Thelymitra alpina
Mountain Sun Orchid at Cotter River, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Thelymitra alpina | MichaelMulvaney | 6 Jan 2018 | |
| Thelymitra alpina | TonyWood | 14 Dec 2017 | |
| Thelymitra (genus) | GlenRyan | 13 Dec 2017 |
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User's notes
At this location there were 11 plants (that I could see flowering) growing in grass/weeds along the roadside verge over about 100 metres. There was a lot of variation in these plants - some had smaller and/or less flowers plus there was a wide range of colours from blue to pink. Plant shown here was probably the showiest example with the most flowers out - and the pinkest colour. I have pretty much no experience at all with Thelymitra so was interested to find this diverse little batch on the side of the road. From a superficial thumb through Field Guide to Orchs ACT I guess T. alpina maybe ticks some boxes? But more for location / roadside verge etc rather than any precise botanical analysis ;) So very interested to see what the experts think! There was another Thelymitra growing further back into the forest just nearby with much more consistent flowers and form - plus a much wider leaf than the roadside verge plants. I'll post that separately. Cheers! Glen
3 comments
14 Dec 2017
Hi Glen, my first impression was T. alpina, its the right location and image 3 appears to show two small horns on the dorsal part of the column which is a characteristic feature of that species. I did see a similar looking plant at Smokers Gap a couple of weeks ago which I have tentatively identified as T. brevifolia, mainly on the basis of its short broad leaf.
14 Dec 2017
Thanks Tony - I just added a few more images (including another leaf shot) of the variations slightly further up the hill on sighting 3387180. May or may not add something to the images here - hopefully there's something extra that helps! Cheers Glen
7 Jan 2018
This should be regarded as probable identification rather than definitive - Thelymitra are difficult to ID from photos
Location information
- Maps Namadgi National Park
- Places Cotter River, ACT
Sighting information
- 11 Abundance
- GlenRyan Recorded by
- Yes In flower
- 10cm to 30cm Plant height
Collections
Species information
- Thelymitra alpina Scientific name
- Mountain Sun Orchid Common name
- Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1484.91m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Seasonal activity
-
In flower
JFMAMJJASOND
Record quality
Quality score
6 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species