Caladenia%20barbarella

<i>Caladenia barbarella</i>

Caladenia barbarella

Species of orchid

Caladenia barbarella, commonly known as the small dragon orchid,[2] is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has a single broad, hairy leaf held close to the ground and a single greenish-yellow and red flower. It is only known from a small area near the Murchison River.

Quick Facts Small dragon orchid, Conservation status ...

Description

Caladenia barbarella is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single ground-hugging, broad, hairy leaf 3–8 cm (1–3 in) long and 3–7 mm (0.1–0.3 in) wide. The single flower is borne on a stem 8–25 cm (3–10 in) tall and is greenish-yellow with red stripes and 2 cm (0.8 in) wide and long. The lateral sepals and petals are short and hang downwards. The labellum is densely hairy and has a large dark red gland at its highest point. It also has many long purple hairs that are thought to attract pollinators. Flowering occurs in late August and September.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

Caladenia barbarella was first formally described by Stephen Hopper and Andrew Brown in 2001 from a specimen collected in the Cooloomia Nature Reserve near the Murchison river and the description was published in Nuytsia.[5] The specific epithet (barbarella) is a diminutive form of the Latin word barba, hence meaning "a small beard", but also alludes to a comparison of the sexual deception of this orchid to its male insect pollinators, and the French comic-book character Barbarella.[2][6]

Distribution and habitat

Small dragon orchid is known from fourteen populations east and north-east of Kalbarri in the Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic region[7] where it grows under low shrubs in areas that are inundated in winter.[2][3]

Conservation

Caladenia barbarella is classified as "Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife[7] and it has also been listed as "Endangered" (EN) under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).[4]

References

  1. [1]
    "Caladenia australis". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  2. [2]
    Brown, Andrew; Dixon, Kingsley; French, Christopher; Brockman, Garry (2013). Field guide to the orchids of Western Australia : the definitive guide to the native orchids of Western Australia. Simon Nevill Publications. p. 140. ISBN 9780980348149.
  3. [3]
    Hoffman, Noel; Brown, Andrew (2011). Orchids of South-West Australia (3rd ed.). Gooseberry Hill: Noel Hoffman. p. 182. ISBN 9780646562322.
  4. [4]
    "Approved Conservation Advice for Caladenia barbarella (Small Dragon Orchid)" (PDF). Australian Government Department of the Environment. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  5. [5]
    "Caladenia barbarella". APNI. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  6. [6]
    Hopper, Stephen D.; Brown, Andrew P. (2001). "Contributions to Western Australian orchidology: 2. New taxa and circumscriptions in Caladenia". Nuytsia. 14 (1/2): 162–166. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  7. [7]
    "Caladenia barbarella". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Caladenia%20barbarella, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.