Volume 12 > Part 2 > Year 2014 > Page 526 > Orchidaceae > Gastrodia

1. Gastrodia exilis Hook.f.wfo-0000971550

Fl. Brit. India 6: 123. 1890. Fig. 288.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Flowering shoots 10–40 cm tall, erect; rhizome tuberous, 2–5 by 0.2–0.8 cm; roots 3–5, filiform, to 3 cm long, white, arising from neck at the top of rhizome; aerial stem erect, leafless, slender, with 3–6 scale-like sheaths, glabrous; sheaths tubular at base of stem, bract-like above, 1–2.5 mm long, acute. Inflorescence laxly 3- to 15-flowered, glabrous; floral bracts ovate to ovate-lanceolate, to 5 mm long, tuberculate outside, acute to rounded, concave, caducous. Flowers white to whitish-pink, urn-shaped, 0.8–1 cm long, opening in succession (only one at a time); pedicel and ovary 2–5 mm long. Sepals connate, forming a tube, 9–10 mm by 6–7 mm; free portion shallowly 3-lobed, ovate, rounded, margins erose to laciniate, 3-veined; the 2 anterior lobes separated from each other by a deep sinus; tube slightly gibbous at base. Petals attached on the sinus between dorsal and lateral sepals, ovate, 2.5–3.5 by 2–3 mm, rounded, margins erose to laciniate, 3-veined. Labellum free, ovate to ovate-oblong, 3.5–5 by 2–3 mm, apical margin irregularly crenate, obtuse to subtruncate, lateral margins erect or incurved, irregularly crenate, base with 2 small subglobose calli; disk ornamented by oblong-ellipsoid keels above the middle on either side of mid-vein, 5- to 7-veined. Column slender, 3–4 mm long, slightly curved, laterally winged towards apex; stelids ca 2 mm long; rostellum a thickened cushion, slightly emarginate. Capsule oblong-ellipsoid, 0.8–1 by 0.4–0.6 cm, with elongated pedicel.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Phitsanulok; NORTH-EASTERN: Loei; SOUTH-EASTERN: Chon Buri, Chanthaburi; PENINSULAR: Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Distribution : India (type), N Sumatra.

Ecology : Tropical evergreen forests, hill evergreen forests, 700–1,500 m alt. Flowering: May–October.

Vernacular : Ueang klip tit (เอื้องกลีบติด).