Plants
Orchids
Sighting 3389854

Spiranthes australis

1 Austral Ladies Tresses at Gundaroo, NSW

Spiranthes australis at Gundaroo, NSW - suppressed
Spiranthes australis at Gundaroo, NSW - suppressed
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Identification history

Spiranthes australis 28 Jan 2018 TonyWood
Spiranthes australis 25 Jan 2018 TonyWood
Spiranthes alticola 25 Jan 2018 MaartjeSevenster

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User's notes

A very light coloured specimen that I thought would be interesting to add.

5 comments

TonyWood wrote:
   26 Jan 2018
Not sure, but I have suggested this might be S. australis rather than S. alticola given the relatively low elevation (c715m) and the flower segments are not very widely spread.
MaartjeSevenster wrote:
   26 Jan 2018
Would you say the same about my other sightings?
TonyWood wrote:
   26 Jan 2018
I guess my comment would apply to other sightings from the same location. My difficulty is that I can't easily tell them apart myself and I wonder if there are in fact two species. I have not had a satisfactory answer when I have raised this with the "experts", except that S. alticola is found in montane and subalpine areas, which i don't think could be said to apply to Gundaroo. Perhaps others have a view.
MaartjeSevenster wrote:
   26 Jan 2018
D.Jones lists S.alticola as occurring between 700 and 1000 so not immediately ruled out? Other than that this is very difficult indeed. If I use this image in Vicflora database
https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/d3b2098a-50dd-46cc-b70b-d030baed68a7#&gid=1&pid=5 as typical for the tubular labellum I don't think we observe that here. Every plant seems to have at least some flowers that are much more open than that at every stage, as the flowering moves up the spiral. But I've really only started looking into this today...
TonyWood wrote:
   29 Jan 2018
I contacted David Jones and this is what he had to say: "Looks like S. australis to me Tony. It also occurs on Black mountain. Recognised by the narrower more or less tubular flowers. S. alticola has more widely opening flowers with a broader flared labellum."

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Location information

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Additional information

  • True In flower
  • 10cm to 30cm Plant height

Species information

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