Gastrodia crebriflora
Gastrodia crebriflora, commonly known as dense potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a pale brown flowering stem and up to thirty-five crowded, drooping, white to pale brown flowers. It is only known from the Blackdown Tableland in Queensland, Australia.
Description
Gastrodia crebriflora is a leafless terrestrial, mycotrophic herb that has a shiny, fleshy, pale brown flowering stem bearing ten and thirty-five flowers pale brown to white, drooping, tube-shaped flowers. The sepals and petals are joined, forming a tube about long with spreading tips. The tube has a warty base and is white inside. The labellum is about long, about wide and completely enclosed in the tube. Flowering occurs from September to October but the flowers are self-pollinating and short-lived.
Taxonomy and naming
Gastrodia crebriflora was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones from a specimen collected on the Blackdown Tableland in 1988. The description was published in Australian Orchid Research. The specific epithet means "crowded - flowered".
The dense potato orchid grows in loose groups in tall forest on the Blackdown Tableland.
Conservation
This orchid is classed as "vulnerable" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.