Green-comb Spider Orchid at Captains Flat, NSW
Identification history
| Caladenia atrovespa | 18 Oct 2020 | MattM | ||
| Caladenia atrovespa | 17 Oct 2020 | shoko |
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User's notes
With dan.clark
5 comments
MeganDixon
wrote:
18 Oct 2020
My thoughts on the labellum is that it's Caladenia phaeoclavia. But the orchid experts may be able to confirm.
MattM
wrote:
18 Oct 2020
I am interested in what features of the labellum lead you to C. phaeoclavia. In my experience the two species are nearly identical, only being separated by the size of the plants and the size of the sepal clubs. C. phaeoclavia is a smaller plant, and has enlarged clubs on the ends of the sepals whereas C. atrovespa is larger, and doesn't really display the sepaline clubs.
MeganDixon
wrote:
19 Oct 2020
Hiya Matt... I also couldn’t see the ‘clubs’ very well, but thought maybe that labellum looked a bit more like the David Jones book drawing for the club species, with less ‘teeth’. I find them both confusing frankly, without a tape measure on site. I absolutely defer to the orchid experts!
MattM
wrote:
19 Oct 2020
Those two species are generally pretty tricky to distinguish as there is can often be overlap between the features. The only way to truly be certain of the species is to see and ID the pollinator, but that's not very practical. I find the drawings to be great for getting a feel for the orchid and looking at some of the details that are otherwise not apparent (see Microtis spp.). Unfortunately all orchid species tend to vary in shape and size, so I mainly use the drawings as a guide. Most of the key information is actually buried in the text, and it can be difficult to determine what is useful and what isn't. I have taken to my guide with a pencil and underlined text and scribbled down a few notes here and there to help me when I do my IDs.
shoko
wrote:
19 Oct 2020
Thanks for the discussion thus far Matt and Megan. I've added a phone photo of another flower in the same patch. The colours are a bit different due to the phone camera setting, but the angle shows the combs better. These flowers were the same size as the Black Mountain atrovespa flowers, bigger than the phaeoclavia flowers I've seen elsewhere this season. Clubs were less prominent and lighter in colour compared to phaeoclavia as well.
Location information
Sighting information
- 4 - 15 Abundance
- shoko Recorded by
-
Collections
shoko Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Caladenia atrovespa Orchids Plants
Species information
- Caladenia atrovespa Scientific name
- Green-comb Spider Orchid Common name
- Sensitive
- Rare or uncommon native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1018.1m Recorded at altitude
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In flower
- External link More information
-
Synonyms
Arachnorchis atrovespa
