Orchids of Western Australia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Among the many wildflowers in Western Australia, there are around 450 species of orchids.

Contents 1 Early identifications 2 References 3 Further reading 4 External links

[edit] Early identifications

One of the first botanists to study Western Australia was Archibald Menzies, aboard the H.M.S. Discovery, who explored King George's Sound in 1791. Many of the samples (including orchids) were lost in the return to England, but those that did survive were documented in Prodromus Florea Hollandia et Insula Van Dieman, published by Robert Brown in 1810.

The first three orchids from Western Australia to be named were Caladenia menziesii (named after Menzies), Caladenia flava, and Diuris longifolia.

In 1802 Robert Brown himself collected 500 specimens of flora from Western Australia, including:

• Diuris emarginata var emarginata
• Diuris emarginata var pauciflora
• Diuris setacea
• Epiblima grandiflorum
• Microtis alba
• Microtis media
• Microtis pulchella
• Prasophyllum gibossum
• Prasophyllum macrostachyum
• Thelymitra canaliculata
• Thelymitra tigrina
• Thelymitra fuscolutea

[edit] References

1. Ron L. Heberle. History of Orchid Collecting in Western Australia, 1791 - 1971. The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia (Inc). Retrieved on September 29, 2005.

[edit] Further reading

• Noel Hoffman, Andrew Brown (March 1996). Orchids of South-West Australia. Univ of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-875560-51-3. 
• Kingsley W. Dixon, Bevan J. Buirchell and Margaret T. Collins (1989). Orchids of Western Australia : cultivation and natural history. Western Australian Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group, Victoria Park. ISBN 0731692136. 
• Stephen D. Hopper and A.P. Brown (2001). "Spider, Fairy and Dragon Orchids of Western Australia". Nuytsia 14 N°1/2. 
• Stephen D. Hopper and ­Paul Gioia (December 2004). "The Southwest Florisitc region od Western Australia: Evolution and Conservation of a Global Hot Spot of Biodiversity". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 35: 623 – 650. 
• Ron L Heberle (1991). "Thelymitra, the Sun Orchids of South Western Australia - The genus". Proc 12th Australian Orchid Conference, Perth: 40 – 43, OSWA. 
• Alexander S. George and Herb. E. Foote (1971). Orchids of Western Australia. Westviews, Perth. 
• Alexander S. George (1971). "A checklist of the Orchidaceae of Western Australia". Nuytsia 1 N°2: 166 – 196. 

[edit] External links

• The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia (Inc) — a gallery of orchids from Western Australia
• Orchids from Western and South Australia
• Terrestrial orchids of the south west western australia