The divergence in mycorrhizal partners between N. malipoensis and A. nipponica indicates different resource acquisition strategies and allows various habitat options in the earliest-diverging orchid lineage, Apostasioideae. While A. nipponica relies on the heterotrophic carbon gain from its ectomycorrhizal fungal partner and thus on forest habitats, N. malipoensis rather relies on own photosynthetic carbon gain as an adult, allowing it to establish in habitats as widely distributed as those where Rhizoctonia fungi occur.