Ludisia discolor

Representation of Ludisia discolor, from the first description in the " Botanical register" of 1818

Ludisia discolor is a species of the orchid family (Orchidaceae ); it is the only species of monotypic genus Ludisia. The species originates from Southeast Asia and China.

Description

It is small, perennial, herbaceous plants. The rhizome is fleshy, divided into equal long internodes, reddish-brown color. At the nodes, it is easy constricted. The leaves are a reddish brown, the veins are whitish, pink or yellow discontinued. The shape of the leaves is oval to broad - lanceolate, a short handle leads into the leaf base, which includes the shoot axis.

The inflorescence appears terminal, he is hairy and bears one to three bracts. Bracts and sepals are hairy on the outside. The small white flowers are in a loose cluster. They are turned 'upside and asymmetric. The three sepals are widely spread out and not grow together. The lateral petals stand upright next to the dorsal sepal and stick this on the edge. The lip is twisted asymmetric. The lower part is baggy expanded and fused at the edges of the column, it contains nectar. The middle part of the lip forms a tubular access, the front part is spread. The column is rotated opposite to the lip. She wears the yellow stamen, is enclosed for a good part of the tissue column ( Klinandrium ). The stamen contains two yellow pollinia, these depend on stalks to a common viscid disc ( Viscidium ). The two faces of the scar are contiguous, the separation between scar tissue and stamen ( rostellum ) is triangular, after removal of the adhesive wafer bilobed.

Pollination is by the butterfly Pleisoneura asmara. The pollinia stick during the flowering visit to the leg of the insect.

Dissemination

Ludisia discolor is found from southern China southward throughout Indochina at altitudes up to 1300 meters. It grows in the shade of evergreen forests on well-supplied with water points.

System

The species was described discolor in 1818 in " Edwards Botanical Register " by John Bellenden Ker Gawler - as Goodyera. The name discolor alludes to the two-tone colored leaves. In 1825, the genus name Ludisia was erected by Achille Richard. This name comes from the Latin and means as much as dancer or comedian. However, Richard placed the kind discolor not explicitly in his new genus, did so only Carl Ludwig Blume 1858.

John Lindley took the first description of Ker - Gawler not noted and described in 1840 the same plant discolor as Haemaria. In the following years, a variety of descriptions of this kind was made. Today, there are about 30 synonyms. (see: Commons ) In 1970 the name Ludisia discolor by Peter Francis Hunt was the nomenclature defined as a valid name.

Ludisia belongs to the subtribe Goodyerinae. The most closely related genera are Dossinia, Macodes and Papuaea.

Culture

It is in Central Europe, a rare house plant that blooms once a year. An ideal location is ideal, a bright, but not sunny place. The flowering time is usually in the winter months. Since the original orchid grows in moist tropical areas of the world, the room temperature should be about 18-24 ° C, do not drop the humidity below 70 % and the plant be kept moist.

The trade is usually the cultivar Ludisia discolor ' Dawsoniana ' available, which falsely as a variety Ludisia discolor var is classified dawsoniana. In addition, already more varieties with different leaf markings are available.

Documents

• Alec M. Pridgeon, Phillip Cribb, Mark W. Chase and Finn Rasmussen ( ed.): Genera Orchidacearum. Orchidoideae (Part 2). Vanilloideae. 3/2, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-850711-9, pp. 116-119.