Citation: truncata, R. Rogers, Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 41:343, t. 17 (1917).

Synonymy: T. xjuncifolia sensu M. Clements, Prelim. Checklist Aust. Orchid. 201 (1982), non Lindley; T. ixioides Sw. var. truncata (R. Rogers) Nicholls, Victorian Nat. 60:55 (1943).

Common name: Crimson sun-orchid.

Description:
Plant to 40 cm tall; leaf to 10 mm wide, channelled and keeled.

Flowers 2-6, lavender-blue with darker spots, especially on the petals; perianth-segments ovate-oblong, subacute, c. 15 mm long, more or less concave giving a rounded appearance to the flowers; labellum slightly spathulate; column stout, c. 5 mm high, widely winged; column-arms terete to plano-convex in transverse section; hair-tufts white, dense, arising from the sides, back and top of the arms; post-anther lobe narrow compared with the maximum width of the column, extending well above the anther point, dark subterminal part sometimes tuberculate, margins usually yellow, smooth or finely denticulate, inclined to bend over the anther though not thickened or incurved; anther with a well-marked point, a considerable portion showing above the stigma; stigma large, somewhat quadrangular; the viscid disk situated in a deep depression in its upper border; pollinia loose, friable, pale-coloured.

Published illustration: Gray (1971) Victorian native orchid 2:40.

Distribution:  Occurs as scattered plants, especially in disturbed areas, growing with T. ixioides and T. pauciflora and considered to be a hybrid between them.   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: Plants suspected of being hybrids between T. nuda and T. ixioides and also T. mucida and T. ixioides have a very similar flower morphology as does the New Zealand species T. decora. Weber & Bates (1978) treated T. truncata as synonymous with T. decora but as the New Zealand plants do not appear to be hybrids it is here considered best to treat them as separate until their relationships are more clearly determined.

Author: Not yet available