Goodyera fusca

Goodyera fusca (Lindl.) Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 112 1890. (Syn: Cystorchis fusca (Lindl.) Benth. & Hook.f.; Epipactis fusca (Lindl.) A.A.Eaton; Goodyera fusca Lindl.; Hetaeria fusca Lindl.; Orchiodes fuscum (Lindl.) Kuntze);

.
Himalaya to China (NW. Yunnan): Assam, China South-Central, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Tibet, West Himalaya as per POWO;
.

Dusky Goodyera;

ORCHIDACEAE Fortnight Goodyera fusca from Uttarakhand DSR_1 : 1 image. 4 posts by 4 authors.

Goodyera fusca is an alpine ground orchid reaching up to the altitude of 3800m in Garhwal.

It
grows on grassy slopes with lower leaves making a rosette of few leaves
close to the ground. Flowering scape may reach up to 20 cm. More
interestingly, the new rosettes formed adjacent to older ones in late
season survive as such under the snow during entire winter season

The photograph is of poor quality as it is a copy of my old optical photo taken in 2000.

Nice
Shot … I am feeling that we have not explored Uttarakhand properly.
As even after visiting so frequently to many areas in UK, we missed so
many flowers. So now much eager to join any exploration in UK with
you……..

Beautiful plant. This is actually around Tunganath too …

ORCHIDACEAE Fortnight: Goodyera fusca at 4000m altitude from Uttarakhand DSR_11 : Attachments (3). 7 posts by 6 authors.

Orchids are mainly distributed in tropics, subtropics and temperate zones. But few are able to grow in alpine zones of Uttarakhand. Here is the orchid Goodyera fusca (Lindl.) Hook.f. which I captured at an elevation of more than 4000m altitude around Nilkanth base near Badrinath. It was in a small patch of soil in glacial moraine.

Attaching a photo of habitat too

Great pic and information. Very few lucky people can reach there. We found Epipogium above Hemkunt sahib at around 4400m. Thanks for sharing.

Orchid for ID_201010_RKC_02 : Attachments (2). 4 posts by 2 authors.

ID Plz,
Date of coll: Aug, 2010
Place of Coll.: On way to Churdhar, Himachal Pradesh (ca 2000m)

Goodyera fusca (Lindl.) Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 112 (1890).

Syn:
Hetaeria fusca Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 491 (1840).
Cystorchis fusca (Lindl.) Benth. & Hook.f., Gen. Pl. 3: 599 (1883).
Orchiodes fuscum (Lindl.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 675 (1891).
Epipactis fusca (Lindl.) A.A.Eaton, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 21: 64 (1908).
Distribution: China, Tibet, Eastern Himalaya, Nepal, Uttarakhand, Mayanmar.

This may be new record for Himachal Pradesh. Please check the BSI flora.

References:
POWO The Plant List Annotated checklist of the flowering plants of Nepal Flora of China Flowers of India India Biodiversity Portal Lectotypifications in Goodyera (Orchidaceae) – Iaat.org.in (pdf- 2010)

Updated on May 26, 2025

Attaching a photo of habitat too

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