List of the orchids of Western Australia explained

Among the many wildflowers in Western Australia, there are around four hundred species of orchids.

Early identifications

One of the first botanists to study Western Australia was Archibald Menzies, aboard HMS Discovery, who explored King George Sound in 1791. Many of the samples (including orchids) were lost in the return to England, but those that did survive were documented in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen, published by Robert Brown in 1810.

The first three orchids from Western Australia to be named were Caladenia menziesii (now Leptoceras menziesii), Caladenia flava, and Diuris longifolia.

In 1802 Robert Brown himself collected 500 specimens of flora from Western Australia, including:

• Diuris emarginata var. emarginata
• Diuris emarginata var. pauciflora
• Diuris setacea
• Epiblema grandiflorum
• Microtis alba
• Microtis media
• Microtis pulchella
• Prasophyllum gibbosum
• Prasophyllum macrostachyum
• Thelymitra canaliculata
• Thelymitra tigrina
• Thelymitra fuscolutea

In West Australian Orchids (1930), Emily Pelloe described and illustrated an extensive survey. She provided an English text, paintings, and drawings for the amateur reader, a mixture of impression and scientific illustration of the genera.

Orchids of South Western Australia

Common name	Genus	No. species in southwest W.A.	Remarks
Babe-in-a-cradle	Epiblema	1
Beard orchids	Calochilus	6
Blue orchids	Cyanicula	11
Bunny orchids	Eriochilus	6
Donkey orchid	Diuris	~36
Duck orchids	Paracaleana	13
Elbow orchid	Spiculaea	1
Enamel orchids	Elythranthera	2
Fairy orchid	Pheladenia	1
Fire orchids	Pyrorchis	2	also Beak orchids
Greenhoods	Pterostylis	~90
Hammer orchids	Drakaea	10
Hare orchid	Leporella	1
Helmet orchids	Corybas	4
Leafless orchid	Praecoxanthus	1
Leek orchids	Prasophyllum	25
Mignonette orchids	Microtis	14	also Onion orchid
Mosquito orchids	Cyrtostylis	5
Potato orchids	Gastrodia	1	also Bell orchid
Pygmy orchid	Corunastylis	1
Rabbit orchid	Leptoceras	1
Rattle beaks	Lyperanthus	1
Slipper orchids	Cryptostylis	1	also Tongue orchid
South African orchids	Disa bracteata	1	introduced
Spider orchids	Caladenia	125
Sugar orchid	Ericksonella	1
Sun orchids	Thelymitra	37
Underground orchids	Rhizanthella	1

• This table has its source as the Second Edition of Hoffman and Brown in 1992

References

1. Web site: 2005-09-29 . History of Orchid Collecting in Western Australia, 1791 - 1971 . The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia (Inc) . Heberle, Ron L..

Further reading

• Book: Orchids of South-West Australia . Hoffman, Noel . Andrew Brown . amp. . Nedlands . 1996 . 1-875560-51-3.
• Book: Orchids of Western Australia : cultivation and natural history . Dixon, Kingsley W., Bevan J. Buirchell and Margaret T. Collins . Western Australian Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group . Victoria Park . 1989 . 0-7316-9213-6.
• Spider, Fairy and Dragon Orchids of Western Australia . Hopper, Stephen D. and A. P. Brown . . 14 . 1/2 . 2001.
• The Southwest Floristic Region of Western Australia: Evolution and Conservation of a Global Hot Spot of Biodiversity . Hopper, Stephen D. and Paul Gioia . . 35 . 623–650 . 2004 . 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.112202.130201.
• Heberle, Ron L. . 1991 . OSWA . Thelymitra, the Sun Orchids of South Western Australia - The genus . Proceedings of the 12th Australian Orchid Conference, Perth . 35 . 40–43.
• Book: Orchids of Western Australia . George, Alexander Segger and Herb E. Foote . Westviews . Perth . 1971.
• A checklist of the Orchidaceae of Western Australia . George, Alexander Segger . . 1 . 2 . 1971 . 166–196 . Alex George (botanist).

External links

• The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia (Inc) - a gallery of orchids from Western Australia
• Orchids from Western and South Australia
• Terrestrial orchids of the south west western australia
• Orchid Conservation Coalition