Hammarbya
| Bog adder's-mouth orchid | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Lower Saxony, Germany | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
| Tribe: | Malaxideae |
| Genus: |
Hammarbya Kuntze |
| Species: | H. paludosa |
| Binomial name | |
|
Hammarbya paludosa (L.) Kuntze |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
|
Hammarbya paludosa (or Malaxis paludosa) is a small orchid commonly known as bog orchid, bog adder's-mouth or bog adder's-mouth orchid. It grows in bogs in temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
It was originally named Ophrys paludosa by Carolus Linnaeus. The name paludosa refers to the boggy ground where it grows. In 1891, Otto Kuntze moved it to a new genus of its own called Hammarbya, named after Hammarby, Linnaeus’s summer residence. Alternatively it is placed in the genus Malaxis.
It is a small, inconspicuous orchid which can reach 15 cm in height but usually grows to between 4 and 8 cm. The stem is yellow-green, has three to five corners and grows from a small pseudobulb. There are two, three or sometimes four basal leaves. These are oval to oblong, fleshy and pale green or yellow-green. The edges and tips curve inwards. There are one to three small, scale-like leaves higher up the stem.
The flowers grow in a spike-like raceme that is 1.5–6 cm long and bears up to 25 flowers. They are small and greenish, about 2 mm wide and 4 mm tall. They have three sepals and three petals, one of which is modified to form a lip. There is one dorsal sepal pointing downwards and two lateral sepals pointing up. The two normal petals are small, narrow and strap-shaped and curve back around the sepals. The short, triangular lip is dark green with paler stripes and points upwards and forwards. The flowers have a sweet, cucumber-like scent.
In the majority of orchids, the flowers are resupinate, twisting 180° during development so that the lip points downwards. In Hammarbya paludosa, the flowers twist a further 180° so that the lip once more points upwards. Charles Darwin noted this feature in his 1862 book Fertilisation of Orchids.
...
Wikipedia