Saprophytic Plants |
Orchid Family [Orchidaceae] |
status
flower
morph
petals
type
stem
smell
honey
2nd June 2010, near Gourdon, Lot region of France | Photo: © Kelly Finney |
Grows up to 60cm in the deep shade in woods, especially beechwoods, and is honey-coloured all over. |
June 2000, Warburg Reserve, Bucks. | Photo: © Phil And Ann Farrer |
Completely lacking chlorophyll, it looks more like a dead or decaying plant, and is entirely saprophytic, which means it parasitizes other plants for nourishment, although the word myco-heterotrophs is now known to be technically more correct, since the plants actually parasitise fungi which are feeding on nearby plants, rather than on nearby plants directly. |
June 2009, Killiecrankie, Perthshire, Scotland. | Photo: © Phil And Ann Farrer |
The stem is fawnish-white when fresh and not last seasons' growth. The leaves are but sheathing scales and just 2 in number. The flowers in a spike at the top. |
5th June 2010, unknown place. | Photo: © Rosamond Richardson |
The hood consists of five tepals forming a hood virtually hiding all the stamens. The labellum is much longer, at the bottom and looks like a forked tongue which curves outwards. |
2nd June 2010, near Gourdon, Lot region of France | Photo: © Kelly Finney |
A rather young and closely-knot specimen. It does look like there are sexual organs visible in this image: the small cream-coloured things in various parts. |
June 2009, Killiecrankie, Perthshire, Scotland. | Photo: © Phil And Ann Farrer |
The 5 tepals are short and similar honey colour, and form both a hood above. The longer, split into two and splayed-out is the labellum. Flowers usually longer than 15mm with the hood just 4-6mm. The plant smells of honey, as well as being the colour tint of honey. |
5th June 2010, unknown place. | Photo: © Rosamond Richardson |
The short stem of the flower quickly leads onto the curved swollen ovary. |
5th June 2010, unknown place. | Photo: © Rosamond Richardson |
The labellum at the bottom is much longer and looks like a forked tongue which curves outwards. |
5th June 2010, unknown place. | Photo: © Rosamond Richardson |
Open wide please. What! No tonsils? At the base of the lip a shallow cup holds nectar. |
5th June 2010, unknown place. | Photo: © Rosamond Richardson |
The short stem of the flower quickly leads onto the curved swollen ovary. |
Some similarities to : Not to be semantically confused with : Yellow Bird's-Nest [a plant with similar name but which is not an orchid, but yet another saprophyte (or more correctly a myco-heterotroph)]. It is saprophytic on underground fungi for sustenance, possessing no photosynthetic chlorophyll to provide energy from sunlight. Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature : The 'dead' look and the sickly fragrance enable it to be distinguished from Broomrapes (which have 3-lobed lips) rather than the 2-lobed lip of Bird's-nest Orchid)
No relation to :
Habitat is woods especially those of
Flowers end of April to the beginning of July. It is in the same Genus as are two Twayblades : Common Twayblade (Neottia ovata) and It acquires its name from the root system, which resembles a bird's nest of twisted and tangled sticks. The plant is reported to smell sickly or of honey, as well as being the colour of honey. It has but 2 leaves.
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Neottia | nidus-avis | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Orchidaceae |
Neottia (Twayblades) |
Orchid Family [Orchidaceae] |