- Plants
- ›Vascular Plants
- ›flowering plants
- ›monocots
- ›Agaves, Orchids, Irises, and Allies
- ›Orchids
- ›Orchidoid Orchids
- ›Diurideae
- ›Caladeniinae
- ›Glossodia
Small Waxlip Orchid
Glossodia minor
Glossodia minor, commonly known as small waxlip orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single very hairy leaf and one or two deep violet-blue flowers. It has been known as Glossodia minor since its description by the prolific Scottish botanist Robert Brown in 1810, but recent discoveries suggest its inclusion in the genus Caladenia. It is similar to Caladenia major (formerly Glossodia major) but is smaller in all its parts.
From the article Glossodia minor on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Glossodia minor is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. It has a single dark green, very hairy, egg-shaped leaf, 10–30 mm (0.4–1 in) long and 8–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) wide, lying flat on the ground. One or deep violet-blue, rarely white flowers, 20–25 mm (0.8–1 in) long and wide are borne on a spike 40–160 mm (2–6 in) tall. The outer surface of the sepals and petals is light coloured and hairy. The dorsal sepal is 12–15 mm (0.5–0.6 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. The lateral sepals have similar dimensions to the dorsal sepal and spread apart from each other. The petals are 10–13 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide and spread widely. The labellum is an elongated heart shape, 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long, 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide, bluish-purple with a white tip and with a furrow near its base. At the base of the labellum there are two large, club-shaped calli joined at their bases, each with a fleshy black top. Flowering occurs from July to October, more prolifically after bushfire.
Range & habitat
Small waxlip orchid is mainly found along the eastern coastline of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. In New South Wales it is most common in coastal heath, but there are records from as far west as Temora. It is mainly restricted to coastal grasstree plains in East Gippsland in Victoria but there are records from as far west as Wilsons Promontory.
== References ==
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Glossodia minor in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 143357.