Ground orchids: Meet the Corduroy Orchid Eulophia nuda

The monsoons bring a lot out of the landscape, including the seasonal ground orchids. This group have underground tubers and throw out an inflorescence in response to the rains. In Belgaum city (yea yea, Belagavi!), I met the Corduroy Orchid. These orchids are proliferating in the large green spaces of the city - a reminder of them being remnants of the western ghats forests that are not too far from the city. 

As if its overall look was not enough, the flowers have a lot of detail especially on the petal - the coloured lip as it were. This detail was perhaps the inspiration behind its common name - corduroy.

The variety of colours of this orchid stumped me - all risen beside each other. Check out this glorious one below we called "purple" for lack of better eye-sight. The corduroy pattern on this one was easily visible.

The other colour flowering was "pink".

The white inflorescence had the oldest flowers, at the bottom of the stalk, turning yellow. Was this perhaps a signal to insects that the flower had been pollinated?

The difference in colouration was stark - it had to be a signal to someone, or something. See the yellow below, followed by the white photographed from the same stalk.

This post has been put up in the early days of the monsoon (May 2024), and I could not wait for the fruits to form. Those will come soon. Also, in this species, the leaves emerge briefly after the flowering and fruiting is done. That too, fingers crossed, will be posted soon!

(All photographs taken in May 2024)