''Caladenia bryceana'' subsp. ''bryceana'', commonly known as the dwarf spider orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the

south-west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

of Western Australia. It has a single spreading, hairy leaf and a single green to apricot-coloured flower. It is a small orchid and difficult to find, even when quite abundant in a particular location. It is found in the far south-west corner of the state, unlike subspecies ''cracens'' which grows near Kalbarri.

Description

''Caladenia bryceana'' subsp. ''bryceana'' 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 erect, hairy leaf long and about wide. A single green to apricot-coloured flower is borne on a stem high and is long and wide. The lateral sepals and

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are short and spreading. The labellum is green to apricot-coloured, has a red tip and smooth edges. There is a dense band of tall calli along the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs between August and October and is followed by a non-fleshy,

dehiscent Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...

capsule containing a large number of seeds.

Taxonomy and naming

'' Caladenia bryceana'' was first formally described by

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British architect noted for his modernist and Functionalism (architecture), functionalist designs in high-tech architecture. He was a senior partner a ...

in 1914 but in 2001

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 described two subspecies, including subspecies ''bryceana'' and the description of the two subspecies was published in '' Nuytsia''. 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 ...

(''bryceana'') honours Bryce MacIntyre, who first collected the species in 1914.

Distribution and habitat

Dwarf spider orchid occurs in the south-west corner of Western Australia between Boyup Brook and

Boxwood Hill Boxwood Hill is a locality in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, situated at the intersection of the South Coast Highway and the Borden-Bremer Bay Road. The townsite was gazetted in 1963, named after a local shrub, ''Microcorys'' ...

in the Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Mallee

biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...

where it grows in shrubland and woodland, often near watercourses.

Conservation

''Caladenia bryceana'' subsp. ''bryceana'' is classified as "endangered" under the '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and an interim recovery plan has been prepared and it is classified as "rare flora" under the Western Australian '' Wildlife Conservation Act 1950''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q26238621 bryceana Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Western Australia Plants described in 1914