Caladenia alata

Fairy Orchid at Endrick, NSW

Caladenia alata at Endrick, NSW - 16 Oct 2018
Caladenia alata at Endrick, NSW - 16 Oct 2018
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Identification history

Caladenia alata 8 Nov 2018 BettyDonWood
Caladenia hillmanii 8 Nov 2018 BettyDonWood
Unidentified 7 Nov 2018 CharlesDove

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8 comments

BettyDonWood wrote:
   9 Nov 2018
This looks closest in the Petalochilus group in the Shoalhaven orchid book, except for the bright orange tip of the labellum.
The comment in that book was that this species is more restricted to coastal areas to coastal areas of scrub and forest in well drained sandy soil.
BettyDonWood wrote:
   9 Nov 2018
My first thought was actually Caladenia alata, but it does not look much like the photo in the Shoalhaven book, and in particular the photo in the Shoalhaven book does not show the distinctive bright tip to the labellum. However both the sightings of alata on ALBC show this character. When I checked in the David Jones ‘Native Orchids of Australia’ book this character was in the description. However, his diagnostic for alata was ‘midlobe orange with two flat orange glands at the base. The two flat glands are there but the midlobe is not orange.
David Jones’s diagnostic for hillmanii is ‘midlobe broad, dark red to purple with darker bars, midlobe with single pair of large flat yellow teeth’.
So it does not quite fit either?
CharlesDove wrote:
   9 Nov 2018
Very Interesting, at Rusden Head trail we did see a number of them on the Florence Head trail as well.
Thanks Betty
MikeLeggett wrote:
   11 Nov 2018
Charles - could you post a detail of the bloom. The Caladenia Complex are well named as subtle differences around the column at the very centre of the petal structures help determine difference. Colour, as Alan S maintains, is not helpful as a final determinant. The plant looks wet - could some of the pollen washed onto the tip of the labellum to confuse us further?
CharlesDove wrote:
   24 Nov 2018
Mike - Will have a look tonight - must have missed the comments earlier
CharlesDove wrote:
   25 Nov 2018
I have attached a closer image of the Orchid if that helps
MikeLeggett wrote:
   1 Dec 2018
Jones (1988) description confirms the '...labellum...mid-lobe yellow to orange, recurved...'
CharlesDove wrote:
   1 Dec 2018
That's is one to remember

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Location information

Sighting information

  • 4 - 15 Abundance
  • 16 Oct 2018 12:00 AM Recorded on
  • CharlesDove Recorded by

Species information

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