Common name: Naked Sun-orchid, Naked Sun Orchid
Thelymitra circumsepta Fitzg. APNI* Synonyms: Thelymitra retecta Rupp APNI*
Description: Terrestrial herb.
Leaf lanceolate, to 20 cm long and 12 mm wide, ribbed, thick to leathery, erect, dark green.
Inflorescence to 60 cm high, 3–10-flowered. Perianth segments to 12 mm long and 5 mm wide, narrow-triangular (opening tardily), greenish white or pale blue-lilac. Column about 5 mm long, white to pink, some flowers with a stalked brushy appendage on the basal rim (varying in length in different flowers on same inflorescence). Midlobe with a few coarse, blunt calli; accessory lobes lying flat against the anther, deeply fringed to toothed, reddish. Lateral arms erect with yellowish tufts.
Flowering: December–January
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in mountainous districts with high rainfall and in seepage areas on tablelands, often inconspicuous among shrubs and tussocks; south from the New England Tablelands.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, NT, CT, ST
Other Australian states: Vic. Tas. S.A.
Plants with flowers lacking the appendage on the rim were known as T. retecta.
Text by P. Bernhardt
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 4 (1993)
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.
|
