Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Caladenia cleistantha

(Caladenia cleistantha)

galery
en

Description

Caladenia cleistantha is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single sparsely hairy, leaf. The leaf is linear in shape, semi-erect, 6–10 cm (2–4 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) wide. Usually only one flower is borne on a spike 10–20 cm (4–8 in) high. There are one or two flowers on a slender, wiry stalk 5–12 cm (2–5 in) high with reddish hairs. The flowers do not open (cleistogamous), are reddish on the outside with brown glands and about 7 mm (0.3 in) long. The sepals and petals are 6–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long, 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, covered with brown glands on the outside and whitish inside. The dorsal sepal is linear to elliptic in shape and completely surrounds the column. The labellum is broadly egg-shaped, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, 5–6.5 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide with three lobes and is white with a few narrow, dark red lines and a yellowish tip. The margins of the labellum lobes are slightly wavy but lack the teeth common in many caladenias. The lateral lobes are firmly wrapped around the column. There are two rows of short, yellowish calli in the central part of the labellum. The column is greenish with dark red bands. Flowering occurs in August and September.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Liliopsida
Order:Asparagales
Family:Orchidaceae
Genus:Caladenia
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