2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Calypso (lat. Calypso) - a genus of rare herbaceous perennial plants belonging to the Orchid family (Latin Orchidaceae). The genus consists of only one species, which is a rare plant on the planet. This plant is called Calypso bulbosa, or Tuberous Calypso, and it is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. Unlike most of its thermophilic relatives, orchids, Calypso grows in cold climates, leaving under the snow with its only leaf, which is born in the fall.
What's in your name
A relatively large fragrant single flower of the plant, as if from some kind of sadness drooping to the surface of the earth, was associated by botanists with a beautiful nymph named Calypso, who, with her love, could not keep with her the tireless Odysseus, thrown along with the wreckage of a ship on the coast of the island where the nymph lived … Thus, the name "Calypso" was given to the genus of plants.
There is another interpretation of the genus name, in which it is based on the Greek word for "concealment". This is explained by the preference of the plant to choose places of growth in a protected area of a coniferous forest, hidden from the eyes of an outside observer. Similar to the nymph Calypso, hiding Odysseus on the island for seven years.
The specific epithet "bulbosa", depending on who sees the plant organ storing nutrients in itself, is translated into Russian either "bulbous" or "tuberous".
Description
Although the Calypso Orchid is a perennial plant, the lifespan of one individual does not exceed five years. Perennial is supported by an underground bulb or nodule, giving birth in autumn to a single ovoid plant leaf on a long petiole. The longitudinal veins of the leaf plate give it a folded appearance and form a wavy edge and a sharp nose. The general appearance of the leaf is very similar to that of the common Plantain (lat. Plantago). The color of the upper surface of the leaf plate is dark green, and the lower one is somewhat lighter. The appearance of a leaf before winter speaks of the tropical origin of Calypso, who miraculously managed to survive in a cold climate.
The stem of a plant up to 20 centimeters high at the base is somewhat thickened and has two elongated sheaths, located one above the other and protecting an oblong-ovoid false bulb or pseudobulb.
The stem is crowned with a rather large single flower, exuding a pleasant aroma and drooping to the ground. The flower petals incorporate pink, purple, pinkish purple and red, as well as contrasting white for the lips with dark purple spots and yellow beard. Flowers appear along hiking trails from the end of March, and in more northern areas in May-June.
Bumblebees are engaged in pollination of Calypso flowers. Fruiting marked the end of summer. Plants reproduce by seed germination, for which they need to meet filamentous fungal formations (hypha), which are a favorable environment for growth, or vegetatively, through daughter bulbs.
Area
Although the range of Calypso is very wide and includes the circumpolar zone of such continents as America, Europe and Asia, as well as Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan, the plant is taken under the protection of people who care about the green wealth of the planet.
The fact is that the plant is very vulnerable. In America, for example, Calypso corms were actively used by the indigenous peoples of the North as food and also for medicinal purposes.
In addition, the life of wild orchids is closely related to the existence of fungal mycorrhiza of specific soil fungi, in the absence of which the seeds of the plant will not be able to germinate, which means they will not be able to give the planet new plants.
