White cinnamon orchid facts for kids

Quick facts for kids White cinnamon orchid
Corymborkis veratrifolia in the Flecker Botanical Gardens
Scientific classification
Genus:	Corymborkis
Species:	veratrifolia
Synonyms
Hysteria veratrifolia Reinw. Corymbis veratrifolia (Reinw.) Rchb.f. Rhynchanthera paniculata Blume Macrostylis disticha Breda Corymbis disticha (Breda) Lindl. Corymborkis assamica Blume Corymbis angustifolia Miq. Arundina tahitensis Nadeaud Corymbis brevistylis Hook.f. Corymbis longiflora Hook.f. Corymbis rhytidocarpa Hook.f. Corymborkis angustifolia (Miq.) Kuntze Corymbis angusta Ridl. Corymbis subdensa Schltr. Chloidia confusa Ames Corymbis batjanica J.J.Sm. Corymbis confusa (Ames) Schltr. Corymbis exaltata Schltr. Corymbis lauterbachii Schltr. Corymbis minor Schltr. Corymborkis confusa (Ames) Ames Corymbis ledermannii Schltr. Corymborkis angustissima J.J.Sm. Corymborkis parviflora J.J.Sm. Corymborkis ruttenii J.J.Sm. Corymborkis batjanica (J.J.Sm.) J.J.Sm. Corymborkis longiflora (Hook.f.) Burkill Corymborkis tropidiifolia J.J.Sm. Corymbis trukensis Tuyama Corymborkis ledermannii (Schltr.) Fukuy. Corymborkis sakisimensis Fukuy. Corymborkis subdensa (Schltr.) Fukuy. Corymborkis trukensis (Tuyama) Fukuy. Corymborkis brevistylis (Hook.f.) Holttum Corymborkis rhytidocarpa (Hook.f.) Holttum Corymbis sakisimensis (Fukuy.) Masam. Corymborkis veratrifolia var. lauterbachii (Schltr.)

Corymborkis veratrifolia, commonly known as the white cinnamon orchid is a plant in the orchid family and is native to areas from tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia and the Pacific Islands. It is an evergreen, terrestrial orchid with a thin, upright stem, papery, pleated leaves and a short flowering stems with up to sixty crowded, short-lived green and white flowers.

Description

Corymborkis veratrifolia is a terrestrial, evergreen herb that forms clumps and has thin rhizomes and thin, upright, unbranched, wiry stems 0.5–1.5 m (2–5 ft) tall. There are between six and fifteen narrow elliptic leaves 200–300 mm (8–10 in) long and 70–100 mm (3–4 in) wide. The leaves are dark green, thin-textured and corrugated. Between twenty and sixty short-lived, cinnamon-scented flowers are crowded along the branched flowering stem, the flowers 20–25 mm (0.8–1 in) wide. The sepals are green, linear to lance-shaped or spatula-shaped, 32–38 mm (1.3–1.5 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide. The petals are white, 25–30 mm (0.98–1.2 in) long, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide and wavy. The labellum is pale white, 20–25 mm (0.8–1 in) long and 8–12 mm (0.3–0.5 in) wide with a narrow tube-shaped base and a broad egg-shaped end with wavy edges. Flowering occurs between December and March in Australia, December to July in New Guinea and in July in China.

Taxonomy and naming

The white cinnamon orchid was first formally described in 1825 by Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt who gave it the name Hysteria veratrifolia and published the description in Sylloge Plantarum Novarum Itemque Minus Cognitarum a Praestantissimis Botanicis adhuc Viventibus Collecta et a Societate Regia Botanica Ratisbonensi Edita. In 1859 Carl Ludwig Blume changed the name to Corymborkis veratrifolia. The specific epithet (veratrifolia) is derived from the Latin words veratrum meaning "hellebore" and folia meaning "leaves".

Distribution and habitat

Corymborkis veratrifolia grows in shady places in forest and rainforest in China, Taiwan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, the Ryukyu Islands, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, islands in the south west Pacific and northern Australia. In Australia it is found between the Iron Range and Airlie Beach in Queensland.