Epipogium Borkh. (Orchidaceae): a new generic record for Andhra Pradesh, India

: Epipogium roseum (D.Don) Lindl., an ephemeral, achlorophyllous, mycoheterotrophic, terrestrial orchid is reported as a new state record after its first collection from the Paderu hills of Andhra Pradesh, India. Detailed descriptions, information on the type, ecology, photographs, and details of voucher specimens are provided.

Orchidaceae is the second largest family of flowering plants, with around 29,481 species found worldwide (Kumar 2024) and India has 1,256 species belonging to 155 genera (Singh et al. 2019).Orchids feature a highly specialized flower structure, and unique pollination process, a peculiar interaction with mycorrhiza, and tiny seeds that lack reserve food stores (Arditti & Ghani 2000).This fungus-dependent life of leafless orchids is known as the mycoheterotrophic mode of growth because they cannot photosynthesise due to a lack of chlorophyll pigments (Jalal & Jayanthi 2013).
The genus Epipogium Borkh. is an ephemeral, achlorophyllous, mycoheterotrophic, terrestrial orchid that belongs to the family Orchidaceae (  2017), hence the occurrence in Andhra Pradesh was not unexpected, however there is not report of this genus from this state (Venkaiah et al. 2020).

Materials and Methods
In July 2021, during field explorations in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, the first author discovered J TT an interesting ground orchid in bloom in the Paderu hill ranges (Figure 1).After careful examination of literature, protologue, and herbarium specimens (Lindley 1857;Prasad et al. 2019;Singh et al. 2019;POWO 2024), it was identified as Epipogium roseum.Notably, this genus had not been previously recorded in Andhra Pradesh, prompting the documentation of this finding as a new generic record and addition to the state's flora.A voucher specimen was prepared according to standard methods (Jain & Rao 1977) and stored in the Herbarium (AUV) at Andhra University.Photographs were captured with a Canon 500D camera, and a location map was created using ArcMap software.

Discussion
The distribution of E. roseum is quite diverse, ranging from tropical to chilly temperate climates of India, and rarely found in the Eastern Ghats region of Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh (present report) between 900-3,000 m (Kuruppusamy et al. 2009;Jalal & Jayanthi 2013;Kar et al. 2017).

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Location map of the Epipogium roseum in Andhra Pradesh.
Image 1. a-Epipogium roseuma natural habitat | b-Tip of the inflorescence | c-Rhizome | d-Flower lateral view | e-Flower front view | f-Opened perianth | g-Opened lip | h-Later view of the lip with spur | i-Matured capsules | j-Close up of opened capsule showing seeds.© P. Janaki Rao & J. Prakasa Rao.