Plum Sun-orchid
Flower, side
Great Sun-orchid
S1, Flower, Close Up
| Plum Sun-orchid Flower, side | | Great Sun-orchid S1, Flower, Close Up | | ||
 | Class: | Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida) | |||
| Order: | Asparagus (Asparagales) | ||||
| Family: | Orchid (Orchidaceae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Great Sun-orchid (Thelymitra grandiflora) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S1, Bud & Flower Stem🔎 | ||||
Thank you Robert Mitchell for identifying and Robert Lawrence for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found in the Flinders Ranges and possibly elsewhere We originally thought this was Scented Sun-orchid (Thelymitra megcalyptra), but Robert Mitchel kindly notified us it was different. To differentiate from T. megcalyptra, Robert Lawrence noted "The ragged top of the column is distinctive. That particular blue with a lighter centre is very common, but there are other colours as well.". Robert Mitchel then sent us to the latest paper describing the species "Resolution of the Thelymitra aristata (Orchidaceae) complex of south-eastern Australia; Jeffrey A. Jeanes". The key steps from the description are: 1: Auxiliary lobes absent -> 2 2: Anther inserted at base of column at anthesis, mostly obscured behind the stigma -> 5 5: Perianth segments >20 mm long for at least somes flowers in larger individuals; flowers opening freely; plants often very robust, to 100 cm tall; habitat low to moderately high altitude heathlands and heathy woodlands; south-eastern Australia -> 6 6: Post-anther lobe of column thickened at the base, lateral margins often strongly recurved; South Australia -> T. grandiflora | |||||
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