Muyouran - Muyouran

Japanese: ムヨウラン - むようらん

A saprophytic orchid endemic to Japan that grows under evergreen broadleaf forests (illustration). The rhizome is rather thick and long. The stem is 20-40 cm tall, has no green leaves, and has scale leaves at the bottom. Around five brown flowers bloom in May and June. The flowers are half-open. The tepals are not fused, and the sepals and petals are almost the same shape, 15-20 mm long. The lip has a small lobe in the center, and the tip is densely covered with fleshy hairs. It is distributed in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and is not particularly used. The genus Lecanorchis is considered to be a relatively primitive genus within the Orchidaceae family, due to the presence of an appendage called an accessory calyx between the ovary and tepals, a central placenta, and single pollen grains, and about 20 species have been reported, mainly in Southeast Asia.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

常緑広葉樹林下に生える日本特産の腐生ラン（イラスト）。根茎はやや太くて長い。茎は高さ20～40cm，緑葉がなく，下部に鱗片葉がある。5～6月，茶褐色の花を5個前後開く。花は半開する。花被片は癒合せず，萼片と花弁はほぼ同形で長さ15～20mm。唇弁は中央に小裂片があり，先端の部分は肉質の毛が密生する。本州，四国，九州に分布し，特に利用されることはない。　ムヨウラン属Lecanorchisは，子房と花被片の間に副萼と呼ばれる付属器官をもつこと，中軸胎座，単粒の花粉の存在などから，ラン科の中では比較的原始的な属と考えられており，東南アジアを中心に約20種が報告されている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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