Slender sun orchid facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Slender sun orchid
T. pauciflora growing near Rokewood Junction, Victoria, Australia Australia.
Scientific classification
Genus:	Thelymitra
Species:	pauciflora

The Slender Sun Orchid (Thelymitra pauciflora) is a beautiful wild flower. It's a type of orchid that grows in many places. You can find it in most parts of Australia and also in New Zealand. In New Zealand, people sometimes call it maikaika or maika. This orchid is very common and widespread.

What the Slender Sun Orchid Looks Like

The Slender Sun Orchid is a plant that grows from the ground. It has a special underground part called a tuber, which stores food. This plant can grow quite tall, up to 60 centimeters (about 2 feet) high when its flowers are blooming.

It has one long, thick leaf. This leaf can be up to 30 centimeters (about 1 foot) long and 6 millimeters wide. It has ridges on the outside and a groove on the inside. The leaf often has a purple color, especially near its base, and sometimes has rust-colored spots.

The flower stem can have up to twelve flowers. However, only two or three flowers open at the same time. Each flower is about 1.5 to 2.0 centimeters (about 0.6 to 0.8 inches) wide.

• In New Zealand, the flowers are usually dark blue, mauve (a pale purple), or magenta (a bright pink-purple).
• In Australia, they are often pale blue, but sometimes they can be pink or white.

The top part of the flower, called the column, is yellow. The column also has fuzzy, mop-like tufts of white or mauve hairs. These flowers usually open only when the weather is warm and sunny. In Australia, you can mostly see them from August to January. In New Zealand, they bloom from November to January.

How the Slender Sun Orchid Got Its Name

This orchid was first officially described by a botanist named Robert Brown in 1810. He wrote about it in a book called Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae.

The scientific name, pauciflora, comes from two Latin words:

• paucus, which means "few"
• flos, which means "flower"

So, pauciflora means "few flowers," which describes how only a few flowers open at a time on the plant.

Where the Slender Sun Orchid Lives

The Slender Sun Orchid grows in many places. In Australia, you can find it in the Australian Capital Territory and in all states except Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It likes to grow in certain types of forests and open areas, such as:

• Sclerophyll forests (forests with tough-leaved plants)
• Woodlands
• Heaths (areas with low-growing shrubs)

It also grows in New Zealand. There, it prefers open areas like:

• Amongst scrub (small bushes)
• Clay banks
• Open grasslands
• From lowlands (flat areas) to low montane (mountainous) regions.

See also

In Spanish: Thelymitra pauciflora para niños