Common name: Magenta Autumn Orchid
Eriochilus magenteus D.L.Jones APNI* Description: Flowering stem 10–25 cm high.
Leaf incompletely developed at flowering; when mature, ground hugging, ovate, bright green, shiny, smooth and hairless, 15–35 mm long, 7–12 mm wide.
Flower stem very thin, hairless; flowers 1 or 2, bright pink to magenta; dorsal sepal erect; lateral sepals deflexed, divergent; petals erect beside the column; labellum deeply 3-lobed, the basal part erect and hugging the column, the upper part strongly recurved, ovate, fleshy, with tuft of reddish bristles.
Flowering: Flowers December to March.
Distribution and occurrence: Southern NSW, ACT, north-eastern Victoria and Tasmania. Moist to wet grassy flats in higer montane and subalpine meadows in moisture-retentive loam. Also among grass and sedges in moist areas adjacent to swamps and beside streams. Atitude 100-1500 metres.
NSW subdivisions: ST
Other Australian states: Vic. Tas.
Text by Louisa Murray and Peter Weston, September 2016
Taxon concept: Jones D.L., Egan, J. and Wood, T (2008) Field Guide to the Orchids of Australian Capital Territory, National Parks Association of the ACT. p 132 and The Orchadian Vol 15, No. 12 p551-552.
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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