Thelymitra sparsa, commonly called the wispy sun orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to Tasmania. It has a single erect, fleshy leaf and up to six relatively small blue flowers with a few small darker spots. The flowers are self-pollinated and open only slowly on hot days. The species is restricted to a few restricted montane sites in south-eastern Tasmania.
Thelymitra sparsa is a tuberous, perennial herb with a single erect, fleshy, channelled, linear to lance-shaped leaf NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Up to six blue flowers with a few small darker spots, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide are arranged on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The sepals and petals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The column is bluish, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and about 2.5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The lobe on the top of the anther is dark blue and brown with a yellow tip and a few short finger-like glands on the back. The side lobes have a few sparse white hairs on their ends. Flowering occurs in December and January but the flowers are self-pollinated and only open on hot days, and then only slowly.[1] [2]
Thelymitra sparsa was first formally described in 1999 by David Jones from a specimen collected on the plains near Snug and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research.[3] The specific epithet (sparsa) is a Latin word meaning “strewn", "sprinkled", "flecked" or "spotted",[4] referring to the sparse hairs on the anther's lateral lobes.
The wispy sun orchid is restricted to a few montane sites on the Snug Plains and Wellington Range near Hobart where it grows in low scrub with grasses and sedges.