[krypt-o-style-iss]
From cryptos, concealed, and stylos, a column.
A genus closely allied to Calochilus but without the fringed lip. Flowers reversed, apparently wholly depend on insects for pollination. There are 18 known species of Cryptostylis these are endemic to Australia. The others are found in Formosa, Malay, Papua, Philippines, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa.
Interesting observations concerning the pollination of the genus have been made by Mrs. Edith Coleman, Mr. O. H. Sargent and Lt.-Colonel B. T. Goadby. In a paper contributed to "The Victorian Naturalist" (Vol. XLIV., May, 1927), Mrs. Coleman described the visits of Ichneumon-flies (Lissopimpla semipunctata, Kirby,) to Cryptostylis leptochila (an Eastern States species). It was definitely established that this insect visits this particular orchid purposely, enters the flowers backwards instead of in the usual manner of nectar-seeking wasps, and successfully effects pollination. The following is a quotation from Mrs. Coleman's paper: "After backing into the stigma, the end of the wasp's body took an inward falcate curve, and the base of the flower's labellum appeared to be gripped by the claspers. This curve of the end, brought the abdomen just in position for the upper-surface, at about the second last ring, to rest on the flower's prominent rostellum, with its dark-coloured disk. The insect quivered for a moment, and then became motion-less. After a second or two, it freed itself, with an apparent effort which shook the flower, Resistance could be plainly felt when we withdrew the insect with our fingers. In every instance, when we gave it time enough, the effort was sufficient to release the pollinia, which, with the viscid disc, were carried off by the insect on the tip of its abdomen, never on any other part of the body. Owing, no doubt, to this resistance, pollen was frequently deposited on the stigma of the same flower, and more was probably carried to the stigma of the next flowers visited. Some of the insects bore pollen before they entered our flowers, while others took away more than they brought. It took at least a second to complete the act, and if we disturbed the wasp too soon, no pollen was abstracted."
In an article published in "The Journal of Botany," April, 1929, Mrs. Coleman states:
"Only males visit the orchids, in circumstances that leave no room for doubt that they are stimulated by sex-instincts, and enter the flowers under the misapprehension that these are females of their kind. . .The shape and colour of the labellum suggest the body of the female wasp, the glistening glands corresponding with the brilliant white spots on the abdomen of the insect. The narrow sepals and petals probably suggest the antennae, ovipositor, and guides. . .The female wasp has never been seen near the orchids, yet one may expose a few spikes in a locality where they are not known to occur, and in a few minutes they are visited by the male insect. . . . Apart from the resemblance of the flowers to the female wasps it is fairly certain that their perfume though almost imperceptible to us, is conveyed to the male wasps over quite long distances..The case is not so singular as was at first supposed, for observation of several other Australian orchids points clearly to similar partnerships."
In an accompanying note, Colonel M. J. Godfrey Comments upon Mrs. Coleman's observations, as follows:
". . .Dr. R. S. Rogers, the leading authority on the Australian Orchidaceae, has never seen a hybrid in the genus Cryptostylis. In this respect it resembles the North African Ophrys specu1um, which is solely visited by Dielis ciliata (Journ. Bot., 1925, p.34). The removal of the pollinia on the end of the insect's abdomen is exactly parallel with the case of Ophrys fusca and O. lutea, in which the species of Andrena concerned assume the same reversed position. Some doubt has been expressed as to whether the resemblance of the lip of the flower to the female Lissopimpla is sufficient to deceive the male. It seems to be agreed that the vision of insects is very inferior to ours. But so long as one or two salient points are suggested, exact resemblance to the insect concerned is unnecessary. The metallic blue centre of the lip and its fringe of red hair in Ophrys speculum are quite enough to convince the male Dielis ciliata that he sees the sheen of blue wings and the red-fringed abdomen of his long-looked-for mate. The shadowy and indefinite markings on the lip of O.fusca and O.lutea (which only suggest an insect to us when viewed from a distance) are quite enough to persuade an Anrena that he has found what he wants. In her second paper in the "Victorian Naturalist," 1928, p.334, Mrs. Coleman says: 'A glance at the strange labellum . . . . with its double row of dark glistening glands that gleam in the hot sunshine. . . . is perhaps sufficient to justify the theory of an attraction based on the resemblance of the flower to a female wasp. Even to our eyes the likeness is apparent. To the inferior eyesight of the insect the resemblance may be still more convincing.' Further, in all the above cases, insects are attracted to the flowers from a distance, showing that by the emission of scent or of some other attractive agency, the flowers are able to convey knowledge of their existence. That the appeal is not to the desire for food, but to the strong sexual urge of the male, was sufficiently evident in the case of certain species of Ophrys, and is confirmed in a remarkable manner by Mrs. Coleman's discovery that the sexual claspers of the male actually became engaged with the base of the labellum, so that resistance can be felt when the insect is pulled away."
In another paper ("The Victorian Naturalist," Vol. XLVI July, 1929), Mrs. Coleman described similar pollination methods by the same insects on Cryptostylis subulata and C. erecta. It was found that a faded specimen of the only West Australia species of Cryptostylis (C. ovata) held a very great attraction for the ichneumons, which hovered about it, and made many attempts to enter the limp, travel-worn bloom. Mrs. Coleman's theory is that the absence of hybrids where different species are found growing intermingled may be due to the fact that anther and stigma in various species mature at different periods, and that pollen from one species is incapable of fertilising another. ("The Victorian Naturalist," April, 1930.) Further experiments, however, are being made by Mrs. Coleman.
Observations made by Colonel Goadby and Mr. O. H. Sargent prove that cultivated plants of Cryptostylis ovata are fertilised by the same fly in similar fashion, as recorded by an article entitled "Wildflower Nuptials," by Mr. Sargent in "The West Australian" on December 14, 1929, and in a paper by Mrs. Coleman in "The Victorian Naturalist," February, 1930.

C. ovata, R. Brown; oval, referring to the leaf.
"Dingy orchid"
Stem 1 to 2 ft. Leaves radical, ovate to oblong, 3 to 6 in. long. Flowers several in a terminal raceme, brownish-green, with a prominent fleshy lip about 1 in. or more long, and the column completely enclosed by its short broad base. Sepals and petals narrow-linear-lanceolate. The flowers are very dingy in appearance. This orchid is found among tangled growth in damp, shady spots of coastal forests of the extreme South-West and on sandy flats among paper-bark trees in the Jarrahdale district.
W.A.: Albany, Jarnadup, Jarrahdale, Porongorups. February - October.