Epipogium aphyllum
| Ghost Orchid | |
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| Epipogium aphyllum | |
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| Species: | E. aphyllum
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| Epipogium aphyllum Sw.
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The Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum) - not to be confused with the American Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) - is a hardy, saprophytic, myco-heterotrophic orchid lacking chlorophyll.
It is famous for its unpredictable appearance; in many localities it has been seen just once.[1] It is found in beech, oak, pine and spruce forests on base-rich soils. It is a rare and critically endangered plant in habitat, and is believed to be extinct throughout much of its former range, although it has been recently confirmed in the United Kingdom, an area where the plants were believed to have gone extinct.
The plants are protected in many locales, and removing the plants from habitat or disturbing the plants can be a very serious matter in many jurisdictions, even for scientific study. These plants are exceptionally rare and should never be removed from habitat or disturbed. [2]
Biology
The plants are hardy, obligate saprophytes and part-time epiparasites that form mychorhizzial association with basidiomycetes mushroom species which in turn form the same types of relationships with the roots of various species of coniferous trees and grow from an underground, burrowing stem which lacks chlorophyll and possesses ephermal leaves which have been reduced to scales. The plants only emerge above ground to flower.
The plants have an extremely wide range of distribution, but are exceptionally rare in habitat. They have been reported from Japan, Russia, The United Kingdom, and France. The plants are all found in areas which typically experience cold winters. The plants rhizomes are densely colonized by fungi bearing clamp-connections and dolipores, all basidiomycetes gill or pore forming mushroom species that are normally found growing in mychorhizzial association with the roots of coniferous trees.
These plants harness an array of fungal symbiots across several families, often simutaneously. Analysis of these plants have identified Inocybe species as exclusive symbionts for 75% of the plants in habitat, as well as others (Hebeloma, Xerocomus, Lactarius, and Thelephora). The plants host ascomycetes endophytes as well which appear to assist the plant in parasitizing some of the plants basidiomycetes symbiots. [3]
The plants defy cultivatione, as they require not only specific fungal symbiots, but also specific host trees that these mushroom species form mychorhizzial relationships with to survive. Large plants of this species can produce a rather stunning woodland display with up a dozen flower stalks at once bearing 3 to 4 flowers each growing out of coniferous leaf litter.[4]
References
- ^ Juliette Jowit: Ghost orchid comes back from extinction. The Guardian, 08.03.2010.
- ^ Ectomycorrhizal Inocybe species associate with the mycoheterotrophic orchid Epipogium aphyllum but not its asexual propagules http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2720653/
- ^ Ectomycorrhizal Inocybe species associate with the mycoheterotrophic orchid Epipogium aphyllum but not its asexual propagules http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2720653/
- ^ Ghost orchid comes back from extinction. The Guardian, 08.03.2010.
External links
- Den virtuella floran - Distribution
- ORCHIDS of EUROPE & THE MEDITERRANEAN - Ulster Museum
- Britain's Orchids
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