Plain-lip spider orchid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Plain-lip spider orchid |
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| Caladenia clavigera growing near Anglesea | |
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Caladenia
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clavigera
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The Plain-lip spider orchid (Caladenia clavigera) is a special type of flower that belongs to the orchid family. It's also called the clubbed spider orchid. This amazing plant is only found in Australia, which means it's endemic there.
It's a type of ground orchid, which means it grows in the soil. You can find these orchids growing by themselves or in small groups. They live in different parts of Australia, including Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. Each plant has one leaf and usually one or two small flowers. These flowers are a mix of yellowish-green and red.
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What the Plain-lip Spider Orchid Looks Like
The Plain-lip spider orchid is a perennial plant, meaning it lives for more than two years. It's also a deciduous plant, which means it loses its leaves at certain times of the year, like many trees do. It grows from a round underground part called a tuber, which is like a small potato. These orchids can be found growing alone or in small groups.
Leaves and Stems
Each orchid plant has a single leaf. This leaf is long and narrow, shaped like a spear. It can be about 5 to 20 centimeters (2 to 8 inches) long and 5 to 12 millimeters (0.2 to 0.5 inches) wide. Both sides of the leaf have a few hairs on them.
The flowers grow on a stem called a spike. This spike is usually green to brown and has hairs. It can be about 15 to 40 centimeters (6 to 16 inches) tall.
Flowers and Their Parts
The Plain-lip spider orchid usually has one flower, but sometimes it can have two. Each flower is about 40 millimeters (1.6 inches) across.
Orchid flowers have special parts:
- Sepals and Petals: The side sepals and petals are long, about 25 to 35 millimeters (1 to 1.4 inches). They are yellowish-green with a red stripe down the middle. They get thinner towards the end, like a thread. The tips of the sepals often have black, club-shaped ends, which look like tiny clubs. However, the petals usually don't have these club-like tips. The sepals and petals spread out wide or hang down.
- Dorsal Sepal: This sepal stands upright and curves forward. It forms a kind of hood over the central part of the flower.
- Labellum: This is a special lip-shaped petal that is often very colorful. For this orchid, the labellum is shaped like an egg or a heart. It's about 10 to 14 millimeters (0.4 to 0.6 inches) long and 8 to 10 millimeters (0.3 to 0.4 inches) wide. It's usually whitish to greenish with a dark red part in the middle. The labellum curves forward.
- Calli: These are small bumps or structures on the labellum. The Plain-lip spider orchid's labellum usually doesn't have many teeth on its sides. Instead, it has four to six rows of golf club-shaped calli near its center.
These beautiful orchids usually bloom between August and January.
How the Plain-lip Spider Orchid Got Its Name
The scientific name for this orchid is Caladenia clavigera. It was first officially described by a scientist named John Lindley in 1940. He studied a plant sample that Allan Cunningham had collected near Lithgow. Lindley wrote about it in his book, The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants.
The second part of its name, clavigera, is a Latin word. It means "little clubs." This name refers to the small, club-like tips that are often found on the sepals of the flower. Even though the petals don't have these clubs, and sometimes the sepals don't either, the name stuck!
Where the Plain-lip Spider Orchid Lives
This type of Caladenia orchid grows in forests and heathlands. You can find it in New South Wales, mainly south of a town called Wellington. It also grows in many parts of Victoria, mostly south of the mountain ranges. And you can find it in the very south-east part of South Australia.
