- Orchids of Western Australia
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Diuris brumalis - Donkey Orchid
Among the many wildflowers in Western Australia, there are around 450 species of orchids.
Contents
Early identifications
One of the first botanists to study Western Australia was Archibald Menzies, aboard HMS 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 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.
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
References
Diuris
plate III from West Australian Orchids, 1930- Heberle, Ron L.. "History of Orchid Collecting in Western Australia, 1791 - 1971". The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia (Inc). http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eemntee/Historical1.htm. Retrieved 2005-09-29.
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. OSWA. pp. 40–43. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gregheberle/AdobePDF/Publications/Australia/RonHeberle/ProcAOCConf1991-P1-6.pdf.
- 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.
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
- Orchid Conservation Coalition
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