Cryptostylis subulata
{{Short description|Species of orchid}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Large tongue orchid
| image = Ground Orchid wallaroo2.JPG
| image_caption = Cryptostylis subulata in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
| status =
| status_system =
| taxon = Cryptostylis subulata
| authority = (Labill.) Rchb.f.
| synonyms_ref ={{WCSP | 52186 | Cryptostylis subulata }}
| synonyms =
}}
Cryptostylis subulata, commonly known as the large tongue orchid, duckbill orchid or cow orchid,Les Robinson - Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, {{ISBN|978-0-7318-1211-0}} page 245 is a common and widespread orchid in south eastern Australia and New Zealand. It has relatively large, leathery, dark green to yellowish-green leaves and up to twenty yellowish flowers with a reddish-brown and dark purple labellum. It is often found in damp or swampy situations but also occurs in drier places.
Description
Cryptostylis subulata is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with leathery, dark green to yellowish-green leaves which sit on petioles that are anywhere from {{convert|1|to|15|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} long. The leaves are lance-shaped and measure {{convert|5|–|20|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1|–|3|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} across. The inflorescences (flower spikes) appear from August to April and bear two to twenty individual flowers on a flowering stem which is {{convert|50|–|80|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} tall. Each flower has three green sepals which are {{convert|1.8|to|3|cm|in|abbr=on}} long, and two petals which are {{convert|1.0|to|1.3|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and narrower than the sepals. The labellum is a rolled reddish brown, purplish or yellowish tube-like structure measuring {{convert|1.5|–|3.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} long by {{convert|0.5|–|1|cm|in|abbr=on}} across. There is a dark purple callus ending in two knobs on the lower side of the labellum.{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=David L.|title=A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories|date=2006|publisher=New Holland|location=Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.|isbn=1877069124|page =269}}{{NSW Flora Online|genus=Cryptostylis|species=subulata|author=Peter H. Weston}}{{cite web|title=Cryptostylis subulata|url=http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=725|publisher=New Zealand Plant Conservation Network|accessdate=15 January 2018}}
Taxonomy and naming
The large tongue orchid was first formally described in 1806 by Jacques Labillardière from a specimen collected in Tasmania. Labillardière gave it the name Malaxis subulata and published the description in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen.{{cite web|title=Malaxis subulata|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/462736|publisher=APNI|accessdate=15 January 2018}}{{cite book|last1=Labillardière|first1=Jacques|title=Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen |date=1806|volume=2 |location=Paris|page=62|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40881977#page/62/mode/1up|accessdate=15 January 2018}} In 1871 H.G. Reichenbach changed the name to Cryptostylis subulata.{{cite web|title=Cryptostylis subulata|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/509951|publisher=APNI|accessdate=15 January 2018}} The specific epithet (subulata) is derived from the Latin word subula meaning "awl".{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Roland Wilbur|title=The Composition of Scientific Words|date=1956|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.|page =113}}
Distribution and habitat
It is tolerant of a range of soils, from well-drained sandy heathland to swampy depressed areas,{{cite book|editor1=Pridgeon, Alec M. |editor2=Cribb, P.J. |editor3=Chase, M.A. |editor4=Rasmussen, F. |year=2001|title=Genera Orchidacearum 2|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-850710-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNFvwlGdTEcC&dq=cryptostylis&pg=PA118|accessdate=22 November 2010}} as well as dry eucalypt forest. It occurs mostly in coastal districts of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, although it is also found in the Blue Mountains. In New Zealand it is only known from swamps north of Kaitaia and Taipa-Mangonui.
Ecology
Like other Australian members of its genus, it is pollinated by the ichneumon wasp known as the orchid dupe wasp (Lissopimpla excelsa), the males of which mistake the flower parts for female wasps and copulate with it.{{cite book |title=Phylogeny and classification of the orchid family |author=Robert L. Dressler |year=1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-45058-6 |page=134|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_xL5qOVa-sC&dq=cryptostylis&pg=PA134 |accessdate=22 November 2010}}
Use in horticulture
References
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Category:Orchids of New South Wales
Category:Orchids of Victoria (state)
Category:Orchids of South Australia
Category:Orchids of New Zealand