Deep in the leafy acres spread across Longwood Gardens there exists a unique liminal area, where the carefully curated gardens intermingle with the natural lands of Chester County.
It was here where something never before discovered in the United States was found by scientists last summer: Cyrtosia septentrionalis, a medicinal orchid native to Japan that can only thrive in very specific conditions.
Peter Zale, the associate director of conservation at Longwood and doctor of plant breeding and genetics, wrote in detail about the rare discovery in a blog post Monday.
The plant relies for nutrition on fungi, rather than on photosynthesis, Zale explains. And it’s a very specific type of fungi at that, a fungi that comes only from a single type of parasitic fungus: Armillaria, commonly known as shoestring or honey fungus. “Without the fungus, these orchids cannot survive,” he said. Even more compelling, it’s highly unlikely it could’ve been grown: “This relationship is extremely difficult or impossible to replicate in cultivation.”
Furthermore, though Longwood imports Japanese plants, Cyrtosia is not one of them. The plant also cannot be purchased from Japanese nurseries, and there are reportedly no records of its introduction in any relevant databases.
Zale speculates that the introduction may have been accidental, since the plant was found near Longwood’s experimental greenhouses.
It’s an incredible discovery not only because the neccessary fungi apparently exist there at Longwood, but also because the orchid seems to be “thriving,” with numerous plants and multiple stems.
Read more about the distinct ecology of Longwood in the wake of this discovery here.
Image via Youtube screenshots
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