{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{automatic taxobox | display_parents = 3 | name = Gnome orchids | image = Adenochilus gracilis kz02 - cropped.jpg | image_caption = ''Adenochilus gracilis'' near [[Makarora]] in [[New Zealand]] | taxon = Adenochilus | authority = [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hook.f.]]<ref name="WCSP">{{cite web |url=http://wcsp.science.kew.org/namedetail.do?name_id=3049 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507005500/https://wcsp.science.kew.org/namedetail.do?name_id=3049 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 7, 2022 |title=''Adenochilus '' |work=[[World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]] (WCSP) |publisher=[[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]] }}</ref> | type_species = ''Adenochilus gracilis''<ref name="APNI" /> | type_species_authority = [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hook.f.]] }}
'''''Adenochilus''''', commonly known as '''gnome orchids'''<ref name="Jones" /> is a [[genus]] of two species of [[flowering plant]]s in the orchid family [[Orchidaceae]], one [[Endemism|endemic]] to [[New Zealand]] and the other to [[Australia]]. Both species have a long, horizontal, underground [[rhizome]] with a single leaf on the flowering stem and a single [[Resupination|resupinate]] flower with its [[wikt:dorsal|dorsal]] [[sepal]] forming a hood over the [[Labellum (botany)|labellum]] and [[Column (botany)|column]].
==Description== Orchids in the genus ''Adenochilus'' are terrestrial, [[Perennial plant|perennial]], [[deciduous]], [[sympodial]] [[Herbaceous plant|herbs]] with a long, thin, horizontal underground rhizome and a single leaf either on a long stalk or attached to the flowering stem. When present, there is a single resupinate flower on the end of the flowering stem. The dorsal sepal is free and forms a hood over the labellum and column. The [[wikt:lateral|lateral]] sepals and [[petal]]s are free from each other, longer and narrower than the dorsal sepal, and spread widely apart. The labellum is also free, attached at the base of the column by a short stalk or "claw". The labellum is curved and has a narrow central band of yellow [[Labellum (botany)|calli]].<ref name="Jones">{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=David L.|title=A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories|date=2006|publisher=New Holland|location=Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.|isbn=1877069124|page =266}}</ref><ref name="Pridgeon">{{cite book |editor-last1=Pridgeon |editor-first1=Alec M. |editor-last2=Cribb |editor-first2=Phillip J. |editor-last3=Chase |editor-first3=Mark W. |editor-last4=Rasmussen |editor-first4=Finn N. |title=Genera Orchidacearum. Volume 2, Orchidoideae (part 1) |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, England |isbn=0198507100 |pages=86–87}}</ref><ref name="RBGS">{{cite web |last1=Bernhardt |first1=Peter J. |title=Genus ''Adenochilus'' |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=gn&name=Adenochilus |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="ANBG">{{cite web |title=''Adenochilus'' |url=https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/orchidkey/html/genera/Adenochilus.htm |publisher=Australian National Botanic Garden |access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref>
==Taxonomy and naming== The genus ''Adenochilus'' was first formally described in 1853 by [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] and the description was published in ''[[Flora Novae-Zelandiae]]''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Adenochilus''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/489395|publisher=APNI|access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="Hook.f.">{{cite book|last1=Hooker|first1=Joseph Dalton|title=The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae|date=1853|publisher=Lovell Reeve and Co.|location=London|pages=246–247|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/54141#page/297/mode/1up|access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref> Hooker described ''[[Adenochilus gracilis|A. gracilis]]'' in the same publication, making it the [[Type (biology)|type species]].<ref name="WCSP" /> The name ''Adenochilus'' is derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] words ''aden'' meaning "[[Gland (botany)|gland]]"<ref name="RWB">{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Roland Wilbur|title=The Composition of Scientific Words|date=1956|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref>{{rp|69}} and ''cheilos'' meaning "lip",<ref name="RWB" />{{rp|200}} referring to the labellum calli of these two species.<ref name="ANBG" />
==Distribution and habitat== ''[[Adenochilus gracilis]]'' <small>[[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hook.f.]]</small> is widespread in New Zealand where it often grows in deep leaf litter under [[Nothofagus|beech]] trees and sometimes near wetlands. It is found on both the [[North Island|North]] and [[South Island]]s and on [[Stewart Island|Stewart]] and [[Chatham Island]]s.<ref name="nzpcn">{{cite web |title=''Adenochilus gracilis'' |url=http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=1474 |publisher=New Zealand Plant Conservation Network |access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="NZNOG">{{cite web |title=''Adenochilus gracilis'' |url=https://www.nativeorchids.co.nz/Species/Adenochilus_gracilis.html |publisher=New Zealand Native Orchid Group |access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref>
''[[Adenochilus nortonii]]'' <small>[[Fitzg.]]</small> has a restricted distribution in [[New South Wales]], growing at altitudes of {{convert|400-1000|m|ft|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} in the [[Blue Mountains National Park|Blue Mountains]], [[Barrington Tops]] and [[Point Lookout (New South Wales)|Point Lookout]] areas, often growing under [[Lophozonia moorei|Antarctic beech]] trees.<ref name="Jones" /><ref name="RBGS2">{{cite web |last1=Bernhardt |first1=Peter J. |title=''Adenochilus nortonii'' |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Adenochilus~nortonii |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref>
== See also == * [[List of Orchidaceae genera]]
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q20812}}
[[Category:Adenochilus| ]] [[Category:Diurideae genera]] [[Category:Flora of New Zealand]] [[Category:Flora of New South Wales]] [[Category:Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker]]