If you had thought that there is a flower behind every fruit, you may have to think again.
Japanese scientists have found an orchid that turns into a fruit without blooming. They recorded the flower, Lecanorchis nigricans var. Nigricans in Kami City of Kochi Prefecture, which remains a bud and slowly turns into a fruit. This behaviour is called cleistogamy, where the flower self pollinates. Cleistogamy has been reported in some members of the grass family also.
These plants are also mycoheterotrophs, which don't carry out photosynthesis. Instead, they get their nutrition from the fungi they grow on.
The study published in Phytokeys on January 7 describes three different types of Lecanorchis . Lekane in Greek means a basin or bowl and orchis refers to orchid. Over 20 different species of Lecanorchis have been reported till date. They are usually found on the mountain forest floors across Southeast Asia, including India.
The study was carried out by Kenji Suetsugu (Kobe University), Chie Shimaoka and Shinichiro Sawa (Kumamoto University) and Hirokazu Fukunaga (independent researcher).
