Family: Orchidaceae
Caladenia menziesii
Citation:
R. Br., Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. 325 (1810).
Synonymy: Leptoceras menziesii (R. Br.) Lindley, Gen. & Sp. Orchid. Pl. 416 (1840).
Common name: Rabbit orchid, hare orchid.
Description:
Generally rather slender, 6-20 cm high, but sometimes much exceeding this; leaf glabrous or almost so, of variable shape and size, usually ovate-lanceolate or broadly oblong-lanceolate, 3-12 cm long.
Flowers 1-3, white and pink, occasionally entirely white; dorsal sepal c. 11 mm long, reddish, very glandular-hairy on the back, spathulate-lanceolate, concave, contracted gradually towards the base, rather blunt, abruptly incurved over the anther; lateral sepals spreading, white, traversed by a pink stripe on the lower surface, crescentic, wide in the middle, contracted towards both ends, same length as the dorsal one; petals reddish, very narrow-linear in the lower half, clavate and closely glandular above, erect, c. 20 mm long; labellum c. 7 mm long including the short claw, white with conspicuous transverse pink markings, orbicular-ovate, undivided, erect at the base, tip white, blunt, recurved; margins entire or nearly so; calli arranged in 2-4 rows, not extending to the top, on very slender pedicels with large rounded heads; column c. 7 mm long, erect or slightly incurved, with transverse pink striae; widely winged throughout; anther compressed laterally like a fireman's helmet, shortly pointed; pollinia 4, lamellate, L-shaped.
Published illustration:
Fitzgerald (1888) Australian orchids, vol. 2, pt 4.; Cady & Rotherham (1970) Australian native orchids in colour, pl. 54.
Distribution:
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Forms small to large colonies by vegetative increase on various soil types in heathland, scrub or forest, chiefly in damp places, flowering more prolifically after fires.
W.Aust.; N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: Sept. — Nov.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
It appears that this species should be placed in the monotypic genus Leptoceras (pers. comm. S. Hopper).
Author:
Not yet available
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