Flaccid spider orchid facts for kids

The Caladenia flaccida, commonly known as the flaccid spider orchid, is a special plant. It belongs to the large orchid family and grows only in eastern Australia. This ground orchid has a single, fuzzy leaf. Its flowers can be cream, pink, or red. They have long, thin, thread-like tips on their sepals and petals. These tips look a bit like a spider's legs, which is how the orchid got its name!

What Makes It Special?

The flaccid spider orchid is a ground-dwelling herb. This means it grows from the ground and has soft stems, not woody ones. It's also a perennial, so it lives for more than two years. Every year, its leaves fall off (it's deciduous), but it grows back from an underground tuber. A tuber is like a small, swollen root that stores food.

The orchid has one dull green leaf. It's quite hairy and shaped like a line. This leaf is about 120 to 180 mm (4.7 to 7.1 inches) long and 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 inches) wide.

Its Unique Flowers

The flaccid spider orchid usually grows up to three flowers. These flowers appear on a thin, wiry stem that is about 120 to 230 mm (4.7 to 9.1 inches) tall. The flowers can be cream, pink, or red.

• Sepals and Petals: The sepals and petals start out wide near their base. But then, they suddenly become very thin and thread-like. These thin tips are hairy and have tiny glands on them.
  • The top sepal, called the dorsal sepal, is about 60 to 90 mm (2.4 to 3.5 inches) long. It's about 2 mm (0.079 inches) wide near its base.
  • The side sepals, called lateral sepals, are similar in size and shape to the dorsal sepal.
  • The petals are a little shorter than the sepals.

• Labellum: The labellum is a special part of the orchid flower. It's shaped like a narrow heart and is about 7 to 10 mm (0.28 to 0.39 inches) long and 5.5 to 6.5 mm (0.22 to 0.26 inches) wide. The labellum is usually cream-coloured with red marks, or it can be completely red. It curves forward and has wide, white-tipped "teeth" along its sides. There are also two rows of crowded, cream-coloured structures called calli along its middle. These calli get smaller towards the tip of the labellum.

This orchid usually blooms from August to October.

How It Got Its Name

Taxonomy

The flaccid spider orchid was first officially described in 1991. A botanist named David Jones gave it its formal scientific name, Caladenia flaccida. He published his description in a research paper called Australian Orchid Research.

Naming

The second part of its scientific name, flaccida, comes from a Latin word. It means "weak" or "drooping." This name was chosen because the sepals and petals of this orchid tend to hang down or droop.

Where It Lives

The flaccid spider orchid grows in specific places in Australia. You can find it on ridges and slopes within forests where Callitris trees grow. It is found in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and possibly Victoria.