''Caladenia drummondii'', commonly known as the winter spider orchid, is a species of orchid 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 relatively small, hairy leaf at flowering and usually only one cream and deep purplish-red flower with downswept 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 ...

Description

''Caladenia drummondii'' has a single leaf, long and wide at first, but which enlarges after flowering to long and wide. The leaf is hairy, green on the upper surface and purplish beneath. The flower stem is tall and usually bears a single flower long and about wide. The flower is white with darker lines and the sepals and petals have brownish glandular tips long. The dorsal sepal is erect, long and wide at the base. The lateral sepals are long, wide and spreading near the base but with the tips hanging down. The petals are long, wide and also turn downwards with twisted ends. The labellum is dark purplish-red with short, blunt teeth on the edges and its tip curving downwards and there are four or more rows of dark red calli along its centre line. Flowering occurs from late April to June.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia drummondii'' was first described by George Bentham in 1873 in from a specimen collected by James Drummond near the Swan River. The description was published in '' Flora Australiensis''. 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 ...

(''drummondii'') honours the collector of the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

specimen, James Drummond.

Distribution and habitat

The winter spider orchid is widespread between

Lake King Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the tow ...

and Nerren Nerren station near Kalbarri. It grows in mallee communities, ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...

'' thickets and York gum woodland in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Mallee, Yalgoo

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 ...

Conservation

''Caladenia drummondii'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia

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, from=Q15287542 drummondii Orchids of Western Australia Endemic orchids of Australia Plants described in 1873 Endemic flora of Western Australia