Caladenia valida

Description

Caladenia valida, commonly known as the robust spider orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single sparsely hairy leaf and up to three white to cream-coloured flowers which sometimes have red streaks. It is similar to Caladenia reticulata but is large and taller with more stiffly spreading lateral sepals and petals.Caladenia valida is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single sparsely hairy leaf, 100–150 mm long and 10–25 mm wide with red blotches near its base. One, two or three flowers up to 70 mm wide are borne on a hairy spike 200–400 mm high. The sepals have dark red, club-like glandular tips 3–5 mm long. The dorsal sepal is erect or curved forward, 35–50 mm long and about 3 mm wide. The lateral sepals are 35–50 mm long and about 4 mm wide and curve stiffly downwards. The petals are 35–45 mm long, 2–3 mm wide and curve downwards. The labellum is cream-coloured to white, 12–15 mm long, 9–11 mm wide with red markings. The sides of the labellum have reddish teeth up to 2 mm long, the tip of the labellum is curved downwards and there are four or six rows of reddish calli up to about 1 mm long, along its mid-line. Flowering occurs in September and October.Caladenia reticulata is similar and C. valida was originally described as a variety of it but is a larger, taller orchid with more stiffly spreading sepals and petals and is pollinated by different species of thynnid wasp - C. reticulata is pollinated by Phymatothynnus victor and C. valida by Phymatothynnus pygidialis.