''Caladenia erythrochila'', commonly known as the Lake Muir spider orchid, Lake Muir blood spider orchid, Harry's little red spider orchid and Lake Muir blood orchid is a species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to a small area in the southern corner of 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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It has a single, hairy leaf and long, wispy, thread-like

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s 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. Most of the flower parts are blood red, although there are often white marks on the labellum.

Description

''Caladenia erythrochila'' is a terrestrial,

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

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 Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...

and which has a single erect, hairy leaf, long and wide. One or two blood red flowers long and wide are borne on a stalk high. The sepals and petals are blood red and nearly horizontal near their base but taper to thin, wispy, drooping tips. The dorsal sepal is erect, long and about wide at the base. The lateral sepals are long, about wide near their bases and the petals are long, about wide at their bases. The labellum is long and wide and blood red, often with white marks. The edges of the labellum have short, forward-pointing teeth and there are two rows of red to cream, anvil-shaped calli along its centre. Flowering occurs from September to early October.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia erythrochila'' was first recognized as new by Harry Winfield, a former field officer with the Western Australian Forests Department for 42 years who is also credited with the discovery of the majestic spider orchid, (''

Caladenia winfieldii ''Caladenia winfieldii'', commonly known as the majestic spider orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a rare species with a single erect, hairy leaf and one or two bright pink flowers and grows in ...

''). It was first described by

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 2001 from a specimen collected by Bill Jackson in 1995, east of Manjimup. The description was published in ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

''. 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 ...

(''erythrochila'') is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words ''erythros'' meaning "red" and ''cheilos'' meaning "lip" referring to the blood-red labellum.

Distribution and habitat

Lake Muir spider orchid is only known from two locations near Lake Muir and

Lake Nunijup Lake Nunijup is an ephemeral salt lake located in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately south west of Cranbrook, Western Australia, Cranbrook and north west of Mount Barker, Western ...

near Frankland in the

Jarrah Forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...

biogeographic region An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

where it grows in

jarrah forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

Conservation

''Caladenia erythrochila'' is classified as " Priority Two" 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 ...

, meaning that it is poorly known and known from only one or a few locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287568 erythrochila Orchids of Western Australia Endemic orchids of Australia Plants described in 2001 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Stephen Hopper Taxa named by Andrew Phillip Brown