Kokushnik

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Kokushnik (lat. Gymnadenia) - a genus of herbaceous perennial plants living on earth, belonging to the Orchid family (Latin Orchidaceae). Due to the fact that this genus of orchids lives on the ground, the plants have underground parts, which are finger-like fleshy nodules with thin roots extending from them. The aerial part consists of an erect stem with leaves enveloping it and a crowning racemose inflorescence formed by numerous small fragrant flowers, the aroma of which intensifies in the evening.

What's in your name

The Latin name of the genus "Gymnadenia", as it often happens with the names of plants, is based on two ancient Greek words, translated into Russian as: "naked" and "iron" (with an emphasis on the letter "a"). The reason for this name was the pollinaria (complex formations characteristic only of plants of the Orchid family, responsible for the continuation of the genus) flowers, which have naked and sticky glands.

Description

Plants of the genus "Gymnadenia" are earthy hardy deciduous orchids. Their perenniality is supported by the underground part of the plant, which consists of two deeply cut fleshy tubers, more like tuberous roots, and adventitious thin roots.

The tuber, which has successfully overwintered under the thickness of snow, gives life in spring to long lanceolate green leaves forming a rosette at the base of a bare erect stem. On the stem, short, oblong sessile leaves are arranged in the next order.

The top of the stem during the summer is decorated with a dense cylindrical racemose inflorescence from 5 to 30 centimeters long. The inflorescence is formed by numerous miniature fragrant flowers, pleasant to the taste, the number of which in one inflorescence can reach up to 150 pieces. The nectar that accumulates in the long and thin curved spur of the flower attracts pollinating insects with its scent. The color of the petals varies in different species from pale purple to pink and white. The outermost flower petals are located horizontally, the lip of the flower is wide, with three lobes.

The culmination of the growing season is the seed capsule.

Varieties

The Kokushnik genus has more than 20 species of terrestrial plants found in the wild in wet meadows, marshy places, limestone outcrops and chalk deposits, often in the highlands of Eurasia, ranging from Portugal to Russian Kamchatka, capturing the UK and Scandinavia, Mongolia and China. Himalayas, Iran and Japan. In addition, the fragrant orchid has been naturalized in the US state of Connecticut.

Several species of the genus:

* Fragrant kokushnik (lat. Gymnadenia odoratissima) - to the bright species epithet "fragrant" one can add that the terrestrial orchid closely cooperates with the fungal mycorrhiza, exchanging nutrients with it. The plant blooms quite late, at 5-7 years of age, exuding a vanilla aroma and delighting fans with its spike-shaped inflorescences for the first two summer months.

* Kokushnik long-horned (lat. Gymnadenia conopsea) - this plant has undergone a number of renaming and has many popular names in different countries. For example, in Italy this orchid is called "Manina rosea", which means "Pink hand". Basically, all the names revolve around the long and fragrant inflorescence of the plant.

* Kokushnik two-horned (lat. Gymnadenia bicornis) - found in vivo so far only in China.

* Black kokushnik (lat. Gymnadenia nigra) is an orchid popular in Sweden, where each province has symbols associated with a given type of terrestrial hardy orchid.

* Dense-flowered kokushnik (lat. Gymnadenia densiflora) - the inflorescence of this species is difficult to distinguish from the inflorescence of the species "Longhorn Kokushnik", although they are genetically different. You can distinguish them by their habitat. The dense-flowered kokushnik grows in swampy soil, which cannot be said about its "twin".