Oreorchis micrantha

Oreorchis micrantha Lindl., J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 3: 27 1859. (syn: Oreorchis rolfei Duthie); 
 
 

 
Oreorchis micrantha Lindl. is a rare temperate ground orchid found in temperate and subalpine zones of Uttarakhand.
1997 IUCN Redlist mentioned it as ‘Indeterminate’
Photographed in Sunderdhunga valley of Uttarakhand
Another beautiful and handsome orchid.

Thank you all for nice words. I was also a bit excited when I identified it after dissection since it is a red listed orchid.

 

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Oreorchis%20micrantha%20photographed%20in%20%20H.P.%20by%20Krishan%20Lal.JPG

 

Fwd: Oreorchis micrantha in H.P. : 5 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (1) 

A single image of what the photographer Krishan Lal identified as Oreorchis micrantha presumably taken somewhere in H.P. (he did not specify location or altitude) in June 2011.
I will leave it to our orchid specialists to verify identification.
ASSUMING IT IS CORRECT, this may represent a NW extension of its range?
Enumeration of the Flowering Plants of Nepal gives a range of Kumaon to Bhutan, Assam, Tibet and W.China.
I cannot but wonder, given that many orchids are under-recorded, as to the justification of being on a Red List?  And even if it were genuinely rare in what is now Uttarakhand that does not mean it is elsewhere in its range.
Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of Orchidaceae for Flora of Bhutan (which includes Sikkim) so have no idea of its abundance (or not) further East in the Himalaya. 

Yes this is Oreorchis micrantha.

It is also found in Jammu and Kashmir (Bhadori), Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, Kufri) and Uttarakhand at many locations and then eastwards. So Himachal is not the NW range but further in J&K.
The redlist is not permanent and the extinction risk has to be evaluated againa fter 5 years. Obviously the justification is based on the available literatures before the assessment. I do agree that authors must compile the whole distribution as far as possible. I did the same for my new species Gastrochilus kadooriei attached with the mail. Who knows, even after compilation, I must have missed something. Hence this shouldn’t stop us from assessing a species.
Attachments (1) – 048 2014 Gastrochilus kadooriei PHYTOTAXA.pdf- 4 MB  

Thanks for confirmation of ID and additional information.
Significant that this species was not known to Stewart from Pakistan or Kashmir. The record from Badori suggests it did occur there but was not noticed. 
Similarly, it was APPARENTLY (according to Enumeration of the Flowering Plants of Nepal) not known from H.P., yet was subsequently found at Shimla!
BUT, I have just checked with ‘Flora Simlensis’ (published in 1921) and was surprised to find O.micrantha WAS known from Mushobra and Mahasu!
Clearly, an error on the part of the authors of the Enumeration….  See, even TOP British and Japanese botanists do not ALWAYS check as thoroughly as they should.
Though with all orchids one must remember that a colony will not necessarily be in flower every year and so easily over-looked – making it especially difficult to assess abundance or rarity.
May I use this opportunity to WARN all photographers of orchids to take care not to crush/ trample on young, non-flowering orchid
plants likely to be growing close to a specimen in flower.
We ALL have a responsibility in this respect   

Yes sir its true that many orchids, especially terrestrial ones flower usually on alternate years. Even does the epiphytic ones, but just that in a clump one individual may flower this year but not next year, but another individual in the same clump flower next year and hence the number goes unnoticed.

Thanks for the warning.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *