Caladenia serotina
species of plant
Caladenia serotina, commonly known as the Christmas spider orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has a single erect, hairy leaf and up to three white to cream-coloured and red flowers, although the relative amount of each is variable. It is one of the later-flowering spider orchids and occurs in the far south-west corner of the state.
Description
Caladenia serotina is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single erect, hairy leaf, 100–200 mm (4–8 in) long and 4–20 mm (0.2–0.8 in) wide. Up to three flowers 80–120 mm (3–5 in) long, 80–100 mm (3–4 in) wide are borne on a stalk 250–600 mm (10–20 in) tall. The flowers have varying amounts of red and white or cream colours. The sepals and petals have long, thick, yellowish tips. The dorsal sepal is erect, 55–100 mm (2–4 in) long and 3–6 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide and the lateral sepals have similar dimensions but spread widely and curve stiffly downwards near the tips. The petals are 45–80 mm (2–3 in) long and 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide and arranged like the lateral sepals. The labellum is 16–30 mm (0.6–1 in) long, 10–14 mm (0.4–0.6 in) wide and white but with narrow red teeth up to 7 mm (0.3 in) long on the sides.
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This entry incorporates text from “Caladenia serotina” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.