''Cyanicula aperta'', commonly known as the western tiny blue china orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It has a relatively narrow leaf and a single bluish-mauve flower. It is distinguished from the other two similar blue orchids by the sides of the labellum which are erect but well-separated from the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

. This species also has a more easterly distribution than '' C. amplexans'' and '' C. sericea''.

Description

''Cyanicula aperta'' is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous,

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

with an underground tuber and a single, hairy leaf, long and wide. Usually only one bluish-mauve flower about long and wide is borne on a stalk tall. On rare occasions the flower is white and the bluish flowers are a lighter colour on the outside. The dorsal sepal is erect, long and wide. The lateral sepals and petals have about the same dimensions as the dorsal sepal although the lateral sepals are slightly wider. The labellum is long and wide and reddish-mauve with darker bars. The sides of the labellum curve upwards but without surrounding the column. The labellum has a white and yellow down-curved tip and there are two rows of stalked yellow calli along the mid-line of the labellum. Flowering occurs from August to early October.

Taxonomy and naming

''Cyanicula aperta'' was first formally described in 2000

Stephen Hopper Stephen Donald Hopper AC FLS FTSE (born 18 June 1951) is a Western Australian botanist. He graduated in Biology, specialising in conservation biology and vascular plants. Hopper has written eight books, and has over 200 publications to his n ...

and Andrew Brown in '' Australian Systematic Botany'' from a specimen collected near Jerramungup. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''aperta'') is a Latin word meaning "open", referring to the gap between the erect sides of the labellum and the column.

Distribution and habitat

The western tiny blue china orchid is found in areas near the south coast of Western Australia from the

Cape Arid National Park Cape Arid National Park is a List of national parks of Australia, national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance and lies on the shore of the South coast of W ...

to Dumbleyung in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia, growing in heath, in shrubland or on granite outcrops.

Conservation

''Cyanicula aperta'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q10262570, from2=Q59910257 aperta Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Western Australia Plants described in 2004 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Andrew Phillip Brown Taxa named by Stephen Hopper