Thelymitra alpina, commonly known as the mountain sun orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has a single dark green leaf with a purplish base and up to twenty, usually blue to purplish flowers. It grows in alpine, subalpine and montane areas of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.
Thelymitra alpina is a tuberous, perennial herb with a single erect, fleshy, channelled, linear to lance-shaped leaf NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Between two and twenty blue to purplish, sometimes lilac, pink or white flowers NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide are arranged on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The sepals and petals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The column is pale blue or pinkish, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The lobe on the top of the anther is brown with a yellow, inflated, tubular tip with a V-shaped notch on the end. The side lobes have dense, mop-like tufts of white or pink hairs. Flowering occurs from October to January.[1] [2] [3]
Thelymitra alpina was first formally described in 2013 by Jeff Jeanes from a specimen collected in the Kosciuszko National Park and the description was published in Muelleria.[4] The specific epithet (alpina) is a Latin word meaning "of high mountains".[5]
The mountain sun orchid sun orchid grows in grassy forest, meadow or woodland with snow gums, at altitudes of between NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 in the highlands of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.