Caladenia bryceana explained

Caladenia bryceana is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a dwarf spider orchid with a single spreading, hairy leaf and a single green to apricot-coloured flower. There are two subspecies differing in the features of the labellum.

Description

Caladenia bryceana is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single hairy leaf long and wide. Usually, there is only a single pale green to apricot-coloured flower. The dorsal sepal is erect to slightly curved forwards long and wide, the lateral sepals broadly crescent-moon shaped, long and wide, and the petals linear, long and long. The labellum is two-tone green and ends in a dark maroon tip, with a dense band of tall calli along the centre of the labellum but ending short of the maroon tip. Flowering occurs from August to October.[1]

Taxonomy and naming

Caladenia bryceana was first formally described by Richard Rogers in 1914 from a specimen collected near Gnowangerup. The description was published in Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia).[2] [3] The specific epithet (bryceana) honours Frances Bryce MacIntyre.[4]

In 2001, Noel Hoffman and Andrew Brown described two subspecies of C. bryceana in the journal Nuytsia, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Distribution and habitat

This spider orchid grows along watercourses and in winter-west place in two widely disjunct populations in the Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Hopper . Stephen D. . Brown . Andrew P. . Contributions to Western Australian orchidology: 2. New taxa and circumscriptions in Caladenia. . Nuytsia . 2001 . 14 . 1/2 . 196–199 . 6 February 2023.
  2. Web site: Caladenia bryceana. APNI. 6 February 2023.
  3. Rogers. Richard Sanders. Notes on the orchids of Kangaroo Island together with a description of two new species. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia . 1914. 38. 359–360. 6 February 2023.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 151 . 3rd.
  5. Web site: Caladenia bryceana subsp. bryceana . Australian Plant Census . 6 February 2023.
  6. Web site: Caladenia bryceana subsp. cracens . Australian Plant Census . 6 February 2023.