Leafless Ghost Orchid Gastrodia keyiensis Identified Near Keyi River in Arunachal Pradesh

Key facts

• Botanists discovered a rare leafless orchid, named Gastrodia keyiensis, in a remote gorge near the Keyi River in Keyi Panyor district of Arunachal Pradesh, finding only five flowering individuals at an elevation of 1,000 metres.
• The orchid lacks chlorophyll and does not photosynthesise, relying on soil fungi for nutrients through holomycotrophy, and spends most of its life cycle underground; locals in the Nyishi dialect call it Oram Opuh, meaning Ghost Flower.
• The plant grows up to 35 cm tall and produces one to three white to pale blue flowers with a curved yellow section, distinguished by a broadly obovate labellum with six to seven longitudinally thickened structures.
• The study authored by Madhusudhan Khanal, Dipankar Borah, Shuvadip Sarkar, Neelam Gap, Santosh Kumar Rai, and Devendra Kumar was published in the journal Phytotaxa on September 9, with authors from the G B Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Sikkim University, Kaliabor College, and the Botanical Survey of India.
• Researchers classified the species as Data Deficient because only one site spanning four square kilometres is known, and called for more field work and long-term monitoring.
• Arunachal Pradesh, nicknamed Orchid Paradise, has roughly 600 orchid species recognized by the state forest department.