Common donkey orchid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Common donkey orchid |
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| Diuris corymbosa growing in Kings Park, Perth | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Diuris
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| Species: |
corymbosa
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| Synonyms | |
The Diuris corymbosa, also known as the common donkey orchid or wallflower orchid, is a type of orchid. This special flower is found only in the southwest part of Western Australia. It looks a bit like other donkey orchids, but its flowers are yellow, not purple. It also blooms at different times than other similar orchids. You can often see many of these orchids growing together, especially around Perth. Each plant usually has lots of flowers on one stem.
Contents
What Does the Common Donkey Orchid Look Like?
The Common Donkey Orchid is a plant that grows from a tuber (a swollen underground stem, like a potato). It's a perennial herb, which means it lives for more than two years and has soft stems, not woody ones. It usually grows about 20–40 cm (8–20 in) tall.
At the bottom of the plant, there are two or three leaves. These leaves are quite long, about 120–250 mm (5–10 in) in length, and 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) wide.
The flowers are yellow with patches of purple and brown. Each flower is about 20 mm (0.8 in) long and 20–30 mm (0.8–1 in) wide. They have long, wide petals that look a bit like donkey ears. There's also a short, wide sepal (a leaf-like part) that stands up, and two narrow sepals that hang down. The bottom part of the flower, called the labellum, has three sections. The side sections are wide, and the middle section is short and shaped like an upside-down V. These orchids usually bloom from September to October, sometimes starting in August.
How It Got Its Name
The Diuris corymbosa was first officially described in 1840 by a scientist named John Lindley. He wrote about it in a book called A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.
The second part of its scientific name, corymbosa, comes from a Latin word, corymbus. This word means "a bunch of flowers." The ending -osus means "an abundance of." So, the name corymbosa refers to how this orchid often has many flowers growing together in a cluster.
Where Does It Grow?
The Common Donkey Orchid grows in Western Australia, in an area between Dongara and Albany. You can often find it growing in woodland areas. It especially likes to grow near the edges of swamps.
Is It Endangered?
The Western Australian Government's Department of Parks and Wildlife has looked at the Diuris corymbosa. They have classified it as "not threatened." This means that there are enough of these orchids, and they are not currently at risk of disappearing.
Images for kids
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D. corymbosa in Kings Park, Perth
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D. corymbosa
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D. corymbosa labelled image
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