White daddy long legs facts for kids
Quick facts for kids White daddy long legs |
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| Caladenia capillata in the Little Desert National Park | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Caladenia
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| Species: |
capillata
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| Synonyms | |
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Caladenia capillata, also known as the white daddy long legs or wispy spider orchid, is a unique plant from the orchid family. It grows naturally only in Victoria and South Australia. This ground orchid has a single hairy leaf and usually grows up to three creamy-white or yellowish flowers. These flowers have long, thin, thread-like petals and sepals, and a very small lip, called a labellum.
What Does This Orchid Look Like?
The Caladenia capillata is a plant that grows from the ground. It is a perennial plant, meaning it lives for more than two years. It is also deciduous, so it loses its leaves at certain times. This plant often grows in groups.
Under the ground, it has a special storage part called a tuber. It grows one very hairy, thin leaf that is about 10 to 20 centimeters (4 to 8 inches) long and 3 to 6 millimeters (0.1 to 0.2 inches) wide.
Up to three, or sometimes four, flowers grow on a thin, very hairy stem that is about 5 to 15 centimeters (2 to 6 inches) tall. The top sepal and the side sepals, along with the petals, are usually grayish cream or creamy white. They might also have reddish lines. These parts are 3 to 7 centimeters (1 to 3 inches) long. They are about 2 millimeters (0.08 inches) wide at the bottom and become very thin and thread-like at the tip.
All these parts are covered with tiny, sticky hairs and have tips that droop downwards. The labellum, or lip, of the flower is about 4.5 to 6 millimeters (0.18 to 0.24 inches) long and 4 millimeters (0.16 inches) wide. It looks like an egg shape when flattened. The labellum has many short, wide teeth along its edges. In the middle, there are two rows of flattened bumps called calli.
This orchid looks a bit like another species called Caladenia filamentosa. However, Caladenia capillata is usually not as tall, and its flowers are not as red as those of Caladenia filamentosa. You can see these orchids flowering from August to November.
How Did It Get Its Name?
This orchid was first officially described by a person named Ralph Tate in 1889. He gave it the name Caladenia tentaculata. But this name couldn't be used because another orchid already had it!
Later, in 1922, R.S.Rogers changed its name to Caladenia filamentosa var. tentaculata. Then, in the year 2000, David L. Jones decided it was a separate species and gave it the name Caladenia capillata.
Ralph Tate's first description was published in a science paper called Transactions, proceedings and report, Royal Society of South Australia. He found the plant about 45 miles west of Port Augusta. The second part of its name, capillata, comes from a Latin word capillus, which means "hair." This probably refers to the orchid's hairy parts.
There was some confusion about the name of this orchid. In 2001, Stephen Hopper and Andrew Brown described an orchid they called Caladenia paradoxa. They didn't know that David L. Jones had already named Caladenia capillata. It's possible that these two names are for the same plant. Because of this, the State Herbarium of South Australia still uses the older name, Caladenia filamentosa var. tentaculata.
Where Does This Orchid Grow?
This type of caladenia orchid grows in the north-western part of Victoria, Australia. You can find it in areas with mallee scrub. It also grows in South Australia, in areas with heath, mallee, or light scrub, especially in rocky places.
