Luisia tristis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Velvet orchid | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Illustration by Lewis Roberts | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
| Genus: | Luisia |
| Species: | L. tristis |
| Binomial name | |
| Luisia tristis | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
Luisia tristis, commonly known as the velvet orchid,[2] is a species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid with wiry stems often forming tangled clumps, cylindrical leaves and flowering stems with up to three green flowers with a dark red to dark maroon labellum. This orchid occurs in tropical Asia, New Guinea, Australia and some islands of the Western Pacific Ocean.
Luisia tristis is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb that forms straggling or tangled clumps and has thick, flattened roots and wiry stems 100–400 millimetres (3.9–16 in) long and 1–3 millimetres (0.039–0.12 in) wide. Between two and ten rigid, cylindrical leaves 50–200 millimetres (2.0–7.9 in) long, 4–5 millimetres (0.16–0.20 in) wide are arranged along the stems 12–35 millimetres (0.47–1.4 in) apart. Up to three green resupinate, star-like flowers 7–8 millimetres (0.28–0.31 in) long and 9–11 millimetres (0.35–0.43 in) wide are on flowering stems 5–15 millimetres (0.20–0.59 in) long arising from leaf axils. The sepals are about 6 millimetres (0.24 in) long, 2.5 millimetres (0.098 in) wide and the petals are slightly longer but narrower. The labellum is dark red to dark maroon, about 7 millimetres (0.28 in) long and wide with three fleshy lobes. There is an oblong hyopchile at the base of the labellum and a heart-shaped upper epichile. Flowering occurs from November to April.[2][3][4]