Citation: Rupp, Victorian Nat. 59:61 (1942).

Synonymy: Corysanthes fordhamii Rupp, Victorian Nat. 58:83 (1941). , Anzybas fordhamii

Common name: Swamp helmet-orchid.

Description:
A small plant 2-4 cm high; leaf 7-16 mm long and 5-12 mm wide, ovate-cordate, green on both sides, usually on the ground.

Flower less than 10 mm excluding the ovary, reddish-purple; pedicel 10-12 mm long, reddish-purple to colourless, having a c. 3 mm long sheathing bract in the middle; ovary slender, cylindrical, 2-3 mm long; dorsal sepal 13-14 mm long, narrowly cuneate, not abruptly contracted into a claw, the narrow lower half gradually curving through c. 90(, lamina ovate-oblong, scarcely exceeding 3 mm at its widest part, deeply hooded, emarginate, reddish-purple from the base to the pallid revolute apex; lateral sepals subulate, 7-8 mm long, appressed to the labellum, colourless or often tinged pale-purple; petals similar, 4-5 mm long; labellum shorter than the dorsal sepal, usually under 10 mm long, on a short claw, basal third tubular, dark-purple, having 2 transparent auricles through which the column is visible, lamina reddish, conspicuously striped with dark-reddish to purple lines, at first dilated then suddenly contracting to an orifice directed horizontally, having a dark-purple striped blotch or boss, irregularly fimbriate, directed inward; calli absent; column slender, c. 3 mm long, bent forwards, obscure wings incurved and almost concealing the stigma; anther obtuse; stigma elliptical.

Published illustration: Woolcock (1984) Australian terrestrial orchids, pl. 27F.

Distribution:  Rare in S.Aust. where it is known only from 2-3 small swamps near Mt Compass. S.Aust.: SL.   ?W.Aust.; Qld; N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas. Conservation status: native Flowering time: July — Sept. (S.Aust. in Sept.).

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available