Dienia

Dienia, commonly called snout orchids,[2] is a genus of six species of orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Plants in this genus are evergreen, mostly terrestrial plants with a fleshy, above ground stem, large, pleated leaves and small, non-resupinate flowers with thin sepals and petals. The labellum is short and tongue-like. The genus is distributed in Southeast Asia, Australia, Micronesia and Melanesia.

Snout orchids
Dienia ophridis, the common snout orchid
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Malaxideae
Subtribe: Malaxidinae
Genus: Dienia
(J.Koenig) Seidenf.[1]

Description

Orchids in the genus Dienia are evergreen, sympodial, mostly terrestrial plants with fleshy, above-ground stems, although a few species are epiphytes. There are between three and six relatively large, thin, pleated leaves with their petioles wrapped around the stem. Small, non-resupinate flowers are borne along the end of the flowering stem. The flowers are green, brown, yellow, pink, or purple and have narrow sepals and petals. The sepals are oblong to egg-shaped and spread widely and the petals are usually narrower than the sepals. The labellum is relatively short with three lobes, the middle lobe tongue-like and the side lobes shorter and broad.[2][3][4][5]

Taxonomy and naming

The genus Dienia was first formally described in 1824 by John Lindley and the description was published in The Botanical Register.[6][7] The name Dienia is derived from the Ancient Greek word dienos meaning "two years", referring to the stems which last for two years.[4]

List of species

The following is a list of species of Dienia recognised by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families as at October 2018:[1]

Distribution

Dienia are found in the Philippines, Sumatra, China, the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Malesia, New Guinea and Australia.[1][2]

References
  1. "Dienia". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. Jones, David L. (2006). A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: New Holland. pp. 354–356. ISBN 1877069124.
  3. "Dienia". Flora of China. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  4. "Dienia". Trin keys. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  5. Margońska, Hanna B.; Kowalkowska, Agnieszka (2008). "Taxonomic revision of Dienia (Malaxidinae, Orchidaceae)" (PDF). Annales Botanici Fennici. 45: 97–104. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  6. "Dienia". APNI. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  7. Lindley, John (1824). The Botanical Register Volume 10. Piccadilly: James Ridgway. p. 825. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
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