Caladenia parva is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single leaf and one or two green flowers with red stripes along the sepals and petals.
Caladenia parva is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single leaf, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and which often has red spots near its base. One or two greenish flowers with red stripes are borne on a spike NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The sepals have thick, brown, club-like glandular tips NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The dorsal sepal curves forward and is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and about 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The lateral sepals are NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and are parallel to or sometimes cross over each other. The petals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and curve downwards. The labellum is greenish with a white central region a dark red tip which curls under. It is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and has thin green teeth up to 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 on the sides. There are four rows of reddish-black calli up to 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long in the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs in September and October.[1] [2] [3]
Caladenia parva was first formally described in 1991 by Geoffrey Carr from a specimen collected in the Dergholm State Park. The description was published in Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association Miscellaneous Paper 1.[4] The specific epithet (parva) is a Latin word meaning "little".[5]
The small spider orchid occurs in scattered locations across southern Victoria and the far south-eastern corner of South Australia where it grows woodland and coastal scrub.
Caladenia parva is not listed under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.