Orchids of Western Australia

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

Contents 1 Early identifications 2 Orchids of South Western Australia 3 References 4 Further reading 5 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 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 Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen, 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

In West Australian Orchids (1930), Emily Pelloe described and illustrated an extensive survey. She provided an english text, paintings, and drawings for the amateur reader, a mixture of impression and scientific illustration of the genera.

[edit] Orchids of South Western Australia

Common name	Genus	No. species in southwest W.A.	Remarks
Babe-in-a-cradle	Epiblema	2
Beak orchids	Burnettia	2
Beard orchids	Calochilus	3
Blue orchids	Cyanicula	9
Bunny orchids	Eriochilus	6
Donkey orchid	Diuris	21
Dragon orchid	Drakonorchis	4
Duck orchids	Paracaleana	5
Elbow orchid	Spiculaea	1
Enamel orchids	Elythranthera	2
Greenhoods	Pterostylis	45?
Hammer orchids	Drakaea	9
Hare orchid	Leporella	1
Helmet orchids	Corybas	4
Leafless orchid	Praecoxanthus	1
Leek orchids	Prasophyllum	24
Mignonette orchids	Microtis	9	also Onion orchid
Mosquito orchids	Cyrtostylis	3
Potato orchids	Gastrodia	1	also Bell orchid
Pygmy orchids	Genoplesium	1
Rabbit orchid	Leptoceras	1
Rattle beaks	Lyperanthus	2
Slipper orchids	Cryptostylis	1	also Tongue orchid
South African orchids	Monadenia	1	introduced
Spider orchids	Caladenia	120
Sun orchids	Thelymitra	30?
Underground orchids	Rhizanthella	2

• This table has its source as the Second Edition of Hoffman and Brown in 1992

[edit] References

1. Heberle, Ron L.. History of Orchid Collecting in Western Australia, 1791 - 1971. The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia (Inc). Retrieved on 2005-09-29.

[edit] Further reading

• Hoffman, Noel and Andrew Brown (1996). Orchids of South-West Australia. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-875560-51-3. 
• Dixon, Kingsley W., Bevan J. Buirchell and Margaret T. Collins (1989). Orchids of Western Australia : cultivation and natural history. Victoria Park: Western Australian Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group. ISBN 0731692136. 
• Hopper, Stephen D. and A. P. Brown (2001). "Spider, Fairy and Dragon Orchids of Western Australia". Nuytsia 14 (1/2). 
• Hopper, Stephen D. and ­Paul Gioia (2004). "The Southwest Floristic Region of Western Australia: Evolution and Conservation of a Global Hot Spot of Biodiversity". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 35: 623–650. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.112202.130201. 
• Heberle, Ron L. (1991). "Thelymitra, the Sun Orchids of South Western Australia - The genus". Proceedings of the 12th Australian Orchid Conference, Perth: 40–43, OSWA. 
• George, Alexander Segger and Herb E. Foote (1971). Orchids of Western Australia. Perth: Westviews. 
• George, Alexander Segger (1971). "A checklist of the Orchidaceae of Western Australia". Nuytsia 1 (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