Orchidantha Explained

Orchidantha is a genus of flowering plants. In the APG III system, it is placed in the family Lowiaceae,^[1] as the sole genus.^[2] It includes the plants in the formerly recognised genera Lowia and Protamomum.

Orchidantha remains a poorly known genus, found from southern China to Borneo.^[3] Orchidantha means "orchid-flower", as one of the petals on the flowers is modified into a labellum, like the flowers of orchids.^[4] One species, Orchidantha inouei of Borneo, imitates the smell of dung in order to attract small Onthophagus dung beetles as pollinators.^[5]

Taxonomy

Species

, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted 17 species:^{[6] [7]}

Bibliography

• Sass. C. Iles. WJ. Barrett. CF. Smith. SY. Specht. CD. Revisiting the Zingiberales: using multiplexed exon capture to resolve ancient and recent phylogenetic splits in a charismatic plant lineage.. PeerJ. 21 January 2016. 4. e1584. 26819846. 10.7717/peerj.1584. . 4727956. free.

Notes and References

1. Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III . 2009 . An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III . Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society . 161 . 2 . 105–121 . 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x . free . 10654/18083 . free .
2. Web site: Stevens . P.F. . Lowiaceae . Angiosperm Phylogeny Website . 2013-08-20 .
3. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=10521 Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 319 兰花蕉科 lan hua jiao ke Lowiaceae Ridley
4. http://botany.si.edu/Zingiberales/families/familypage.cfm?myfamily=Lowiaceae "Lowiaceae"
5. Sakai . Shoko . Tamiji . Inoue . A new pollination system: dung-beetle pollination discovered in Orchidantha inouei (Lowiaceae, Zingiberales) in Sarawak, Malaysia . American Journal of Botany . 86 . 1 . 56–61 . 1 January 1999 . 10.2307/2656954. 2656954 . 21680345 .
6. Search for "Orchidantha", Web site: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families . . 2013-08-20 .
7. Christenhusz, M. J. M. . Byng, J. W. . amp . 2016 . The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase . Phytotaxa . 261 . 201–217 . 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 . 3 . Magnolia Press . free .