Some Acrolopia appear upside down but are described as ‘not resupinate’
.
Compare these and see what you think
“resupinate flowers twist as they open”
’
Resupination is derived from the Latin word resupinus, meaning “bent back with the face upward” or “on the back”.
“Resupination” is the noun form of the adjective “resupine” which means “being upside-down, supine or facing upward”
The word “resupinate” is generally only used in a botanical context – in everyday language, “supine” has a similar meaning
In botany, resupination refers to the “twisting” of flowers or leaves through about 180° as they open.
Resupinate leaves have the petiole or “stalk” twisted - resupinate flowers twist as they open.
.
.
.
Am I the only one who is confused?
THEN
Then the experts say Acrolophia capensis is only found in the Eastern Cape
redlist.sanbi.
Until today I had assumed, wrongly, that all orchid flowers were resupinate. Another lesson from iSpot posts.
The position of the labellum (with a spur if it has one) in most of UK orchids appears as the lower lip of the flower. This is the resupinate situation.
There seems to be only one non-resupinate orchid in the UK flora (Stace) which is Epipogium aphyllum.
So in the images of the species listed here, A. bolusii, A. cochlearis, A. lamellata and A. capensis, if we can see the labellum we should be able to determine non resupinate flowers and so select a species.
So A. capensis is clearly a normal, resupinate orchid.
Acrolophia lamellata is a normal, resupinate orchid.
Acrolophia bolusii is non- resupinate.
Acrolophia cochlearis is non-resupinate.
That was fun…
P.s I think the terms would be better kept to resupinate and non- resupinate. ‘Upside down’ can be confusing as it is the common state of most orchids; ‘not upside down’ is found in the minority of orchid species.
There are still some confusing bits, for me. that is - they all say that A capensis is found only in the Eastern Cape.
So this one at Silvermine is way out of it’s range.
But then we had quite a time at Cape Point with a superior expert because we were told that A. cochlearis didn’t grow there - so WE were wrong - pity someone dug it out.
