Large purple orchid
Flowers
White cultivar
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Spathoglottis
Species:
S. plicata
Binomial name
Spathoglottis plicata
Synonyms[1]

Spathoglottis plicata, commonly known as the Philippine ground orchid,[2] or large purple orchid[3] is an evergreen, terrestrial plant with crowded pseudobulbs, three or four large, pleated leaves and up to forty resupinate, pink to purple flowers. It is found from tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia and the western Pacific including Tonga and Samoa.

Description

Spathoglottis plicata is an evergreen, terrestrial herb which forms tall clumps. It has crowded pseudobulbs 40–60 mm (1.6–2.4 in) long and 20–40 mm (0.8–2 in) wide, each with three or four pleated leaves 50–90 mm (2–4 in) long and 8–15 mm (0.3–0.6 in) wide on a stalk 80–150 mm (3–6 in) long. Up to forty deep pink to purple resupinate flowers 35–55 mm (1–2 in) long and wide are borne on a hairy flowering stem 50–100 cm (20–40 in) tall. The dorsal sepal is 20–30 mm (0.8–1 in) long and the lateral sepals are slightly narrower. The petals are about the same length as the sepals but significantly wider. The labellum is T-shaped, a similar size to the dorsal sepal and has three lobes with the side lobes close to vertical. At the tip of the column there is a cap, under which masses of yellow pollen grains can be seen.

Flowering occurs from September to April in Australia and in most months in China and New Guinea. The fruit is a capsule about 3 mm (0.1 in) long, green and cylindrical. After the flower is fertilized, the seeds take about six weeks to develop. When ripe, the capsule splits open and thousands of tiny seeds are carried away by wind.[3][4][5][6][7]

Taxonomy and naming

Spathoglottis plicata was first formally described in 1825 by Carl Ludwig Blume who published the description in Bijdragen tot de flora van Nederlandsch Indië.[1][8][9] The specific epithet (plicata) is a Latin word meaning "folded".[10]

Distribution and habitat

The large purple orchid is found in Taiwan, southern India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Australia, Tonga and Samoa. In Australia it occurs from Cooktown to the Jardine River on Cape York Peninsula. It grows in seasonally inundated and other moist areas, in sunny areas near swamps, seepages, and small streams. In Australia it flowers from September to April.[3][5][11]

Conservation

Spathoglottis plicata was previously listed as "vulnerable" under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999[11] but was delisted in 2010.[12]

Use in horticulture

Spathoglottis plicata and its varieties have been cultivated and selected. The typical one has a bright purple flower. Some of them have mauve or pale mauve flowers. The rare pure white form is called ‘Penang White’. Due to its hardiness and fast growth, Spathoglottis plicata is cultivated and used in hybridizing with other mountain Spathoglottis that are difficult to grown in lowland to produce more interesting varieties. The first Spathoglottis hybrid was produced in 1932 by Richard Eric Holttum who crossed S. plicata with S. aurea and gave it the name Spathoglottis 'Primrose'.[13] ‘Dwarf Legion’ is a hybrid of 'Primrose' and S. tomentosa, a dwarf form that produces many colours of flower, from pink to yellow, and pure cream.[14] Spathoglottis plicata needs to be grown in well-drained, well-aerated soil with the upper part of the ‘bulb’ above the ground level. Dilute manure water applied frequently is recommended.[15]

Tissue culture

Micropropagation of Spathoglottis plicata Blume. and artificial seed production by alginate-encapsulation of PLBs was reported in 2017.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Spathoglottis plicata". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  2. ↑ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Spathoglottis plicata". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Jones, David L. (2006). A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: New Holland. pp. 363–364. ISBN 1877069124.
  4. ↑ "Spathoglottis plicata". Flora of China. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  5. 1 2 D.L.Jones; T.Hopley; S.M.Duffy (2010). "Factsheet - Spathoglottis plicata". Australian Tropical Rainforest Orchids. Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  6. ↑ "Spathoglottis plicata". Orchids of New Guinea. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  7. ↑ Seidenfaden, Gunnar (1992). The orchids of peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Wood, Jeffrey J., Holttum, R. E. (Richard Eric), 1895-1990. Fredensborg: Published in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Botanic Gardens, Singapore [by] Olsen & Olsen. ISBN 8785215244. OCLC 27797276.
  8. ↑ "Spathoglottis plicata". APNI. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  9. ↑ Blume, Carl Ludwig (1825). Bijdragen tot de flora van Nederlandsch Indië. Batavia. p. 401. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  10. ↑ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 340.
  11. 1 2 "Approved Conservation Advice for Spathoglottis plicata" (PDF). Australian Government Department of the Environment. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  12. ↑ "Advice to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities" (PDF). Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  13. ↑ Kull, Tiiu; Arditti, Joseph; Wong, Sek Man, eds. (2009). Orchid biology : reviews and perspectives. Springer. p. 4. ISBN 9781402088018.
  14. ↑ Holttum, R.E. (1964). A Revised Flora of Malaya: Volume I Orchids of Malaya. Singapore: Published by Government Printing Office, Singapore.
  15. ↑ Sanders, A. G. (1940). "Malayan Orchid Review". Straits Times Press, Singapore.
  16. ↑ Haque SM, Ghosh B (2017) Regeneration of cytologically stable plants through dedifferentiation, redifferentiation, and artificial seeds in Spathoglottis plicata Blume. (Orchidaceae). Horticultural Plant Journal, Volume 3, Issue 5, Pages 199-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpj.2017.10.002

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