Citation: Sw., K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. 21:228 (1800).

Synonymy: Thelymitra ixioides, Thelymitra lilacina

Common name: Spotted sun-orchid, dotted sunorchid.

Description:
Varies from a robust many-flowered plant to one with a slender stem and few flowers; stem 20-60 cm high; leaf linear, often exceeding 12 cm in length, channelled.

Flowers on very slender pedicels, about 2-6, blue on the inside with a spotted dorsal sepal and petals; the sepals reddish-purple on the outside; perianthsegments (including the labellum) not very acute, 8-9 mm long, elliptical; column erect, c. 4 mm long; column-arms extended upwards and forward on either side of the anther, ending in white hair-tufts; post-anther lobe, much shorter than the side lobules, crested with several rows of calli; anther slightly above the stigma and rostellum, its blunt point produced a little above the bases of the penicillate lobes; pollinia concealed behind the stigma.

Published illustration: Gray (1966) Victorian native orchids 1:54; Cady & Rotherham (1970) Australian native orchids in colour, pl. 20; Pocock (1972) Ground orchids of Australia, pl. 144.

Distribution:  Occurs singly or in small numbers in sandy or gravelly loams in forest in areas receiving greater than 750 mm mean annual rainfall. S.Aust.: EP, MU, SL, SE.   Qld; N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Oct. — Nov.

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

Biology: Self-pollinated forms occur in S.Aust. Occasionally unspotted forms of T. ixioides may be found. Putative hybrids have been reported with T. nuda, T. holmesii, T. pauciflora, T. mucida and T. rubra (all SL).

Author: Not yet available