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Epipogium aphyllum
Species of hardy myco-heterotrophic orchid lacking chlorophyll / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Epipogium aphyllum, the ghost orchid, is a hardy mycoheterotrophic orchid lacking chlorophyll.[2] It is one of the rarest representatives of Orchidae family.[3]
Ghost orchid | |
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Habit | |
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Ghost orchid flower | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Orchidaceae |
Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
Genus: | Epipogium |
Species: | E. aphyllum |
Binomial name | |
Epipogium aphyllum | |
Synonyms | |
Satyrium epipogium L. |
It is famous for its unpredictable appearance; in many localities it has been seen just once.[4] It is found in beech, oak, pine, and spruce forests on base-rich soils. It is a rare and critically endangered plant in habitat, and is believed to be extinct throughout much of its former range, although in 2009 and in 2024 it was confirmed in the United Kingdom, where the plants were believed to have gone extinct.[5][6]
The plants are protected in many locales, and removing the plants from habitat or disturbing the plants, even for scientific study, can be a very serious matter in many jurisdictions. These plants are exceptionally rare and should never be removed from habitat or disturbed.[7]
In 1926 the Welsh botanist Eleanor Vachell was asked by the British Museum to investigate a report of the ghost orchid in England. For many years the Welsh National Herbarium at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum of Wales) had only a small rhizome that had been gathered by Vachell on 29 May 1926.[5]