Neottia acuminata
Species of orchid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Neottia acuminata is a species of flowering plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is native to the Himalaya and temperate East Asia.[2] It is a leafless, holomycotrophic, rhizomatous geophyte that grows primarily in temperate regions.[2]
| Neottia acuminata | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
| Genus: | Neottia |
| Species: | N. acuminata |
| Binomial name | |
| Neottia acuminata | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
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Description
Neottia acuminata is a leafless, holomycotrophic terrestrial orchid that grows 14–30 cm tall.[3] It has a rhizome with many fleshy roots and a glabrous peduncle 10–25 cm long bearing 3–5 tubular, membranous sheaths.[3] The rachis is 4–8 cm long and densely bears more than 20 flowers, which are usually arranged in clusters of three or four.[3]
The flowers are small, resupinate, and yellowish brown.[3] The dorsal sepal is narrowly lanceolate, 3–5 mm long, one-veined, and long-acuminate at the apex; the lateral sepals are similar.[3] The petals are narrowly lanceolate, 2–3.5 mm long.[3] The lip is variable in shape, usually ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or lanceolate, unlobed, and has an acuminate or obtuse apex.[3] The column is extremely short, usually less than 0.5 mm long.[3] The capsule is ellipsoid, about 6 mm long.[3]
Distribution and habitat
The species is native to the East Himalaya, West Himalaya, Nepal, India, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and the Russian Far East.[2] Within China, it has been recorded from Gansu, Hebei, Hubei, southern Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Tibet, and northern Yunnan.[3]
It grows in forests and on shaded grassy slopes at elevations of 1,500–4,100 m.[3]
Conservation status
Neottia acuminata has been assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.[1] The assessment notes that the population trend is stable.[1] Threats include agriculture, plantation forestry, livestock farming, and collecting of terrestrial plants, although the species also occurs in at least one protected area.[1]
