Drakaea livida
species of orchid endemic to Western Australia
Drakaea livida, commonly known as warty hammer orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the south–west of Western Australia. It is pollinated by a single species of male thynnid wasp using sexual deception. The orchid's labellum is similar in shape and scent to a flightless female thynnid wasp. Although the species was formally described in 1842, the description was often later overlooked and other hammer orchids were given the name Drakea livida. It is now known to be, along with Drakaea glyptodon, one of the most widespread of the genus.
Description
Drakaea livida is similar to others in the genus in that it has a single, ground hugging leaf and an underground tuber. In this case, the leaf is heart shaped, about 20 millimetres (0.8 in) in diameter. The leaf is a somewhat glossy olive green with darker lines radiating from the attachment to the stem. The stem is 15–40 centimetres (6–20 in) long, sometimes longer and the stalk of the single flower is 12–15 millimetres (0.5–0.6 in) long.
The flower is also similar to those of other hammer orchids in that the labellum resembles a flightless female thynnid wasp, in this case Zaspilothynnus nigripes.
“Drakaea livida” enters the record as species of orchid endemic to Western Australia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Drakaea, livida and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 28, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q15459325. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1842.
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This entry incorporates text from “Drakaea livida” 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.