- Plants
- ›Vascular Plants
- ›flowering plants
- ›monocots
- ›Agaves, Orchids, Irises, and Allies
- ›Orchids
- ›Lower Epidendroid Orchids
- ›Gastrodieae
- ›Gastrodiinae
- ›Gastrodia
Black Orchid
Gastrodia cunninghamii
Gastrodia cunninghamii, or black orchid, black potato orchid, or perei in Māori, is a species of orchid, endemic to New Zealand. It grows in the North Island, south of the Waikato, and in the South Island, Stewart Island, and the Chathams. It was named after Allan Cunningham. It is not threatened, and is widespread in forested areas. The type specimen was gathered in the Ruahines.
From the article Gastrodia cunninghamii on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The orchid grows to a height of 100 cm (39 in), and has an erect stem and swollen rhizomes. It can be distinguished from other members of Gastrodia due to its short column, not visible at the flower mouth.
Range & habitat
The species is endemic to New Zealand, growing in the North Island, south of the Waikato, and in the South Island, Stewart Island, and the Chathams. It is commonly found in forested areas, thriving in dark undergrowth.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and range”
What it does
Gastrodia cunninghamii is a parasitic orchid, which does not photosynthesise, and has no leaves. It is dependent upon a symbiotic relationship with a fungus, Armillaria novae-zelandiae for nutrients, which in turn takes nutrients from host trees. It is often found near Nothofagus trees. The species flowers between November to February.
Wikipedia: “Ecology”
In human culture
The species epithet refers to botanist Allan Cunningham. Māori language names include perei and hūperei. Common names in English include black orchid, potato orchid and black potato orchid.
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Gastrodia cunninghamii in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 337635.