Gastrodia entomogama, commonly known as the Brindabella potato orchid,[1] is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a dark brown or blackish flowering stem with up to sixty brown, warty, tube-shaped flowers. It is only known for certain from the Australian Capital Territory.
Gastrodia entomogama is a leafless terrestrial, mycotrophic herb that has a thick, fleshy, brittle, dark brown to blackish flowering stem bearing between five and sixty light brown to dark brown, tube-shaped flowers that are rough and warty outside and white inside. The sepals and petals are joined, forming a tube NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The petals have irregular or wavy edges. The labellum is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide and white with orange-coloured edges. Flowering occurs from December to January but the flowers are self-pollinating.[2]
Gastrodia entomogama was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones from a specimen he collected on Mount Franklin in 1990. The description was published in Australian Orchid Research.[3] The specific epithet (entomogama) is derived from the Ancient Greek words entomon meaning "insect"[4] and gamos meaning "marriage" or "union", referring to the flowers originally being described as insect-pollinated.
The Brindabella potato orchid grows with shrubs and grasses in forest. It is only known for certain from a few locations in the Australian Capital Territory.