''Caladenia harringtoniae'', commonly known as the pink 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 single, hairy leaf and up to three pale to deep pink flowers which have a cream-coloured labellum with a pink tip.

Description

''Caladenia harringtoniae'' 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 wide. Up to three flowers long and wide are borne on a stalk tall. The flowers are pale pink to deep pink with spreading 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. The dorsal sepal is erect, long and wide, the lateral sepals are long and wide and the petals are long and wide. The labellum is cream-coloured, long and wide with a pink tip. The sides of the labellum have erect, spreading, red teeth up to long and there are four rows of pink calli up to long, along the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs from mid-September to early November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia harringtoniae'' was first described in 2001 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 Phillip Brown Andrew Phillip Brown (born 1951) is a conservation biologist and taxonomist at the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation. He is also curator of Orchidaceae and Myoporaceae Myoporaceae was a family of plants, found mostly ...

from a specimen collected near Pemberton and the description 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 ...

(''harringtoniae'') honours Alison Harrington, a president of the Western Australia Native Orchid Study Group.

Distribution and habitat

The pink spider orchid occurs between Nannup and Albany in the Jarrah Forest and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

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 swamps and flat areas that are flooded in winter.

Conservation

''Caladenia harringtoniae'' is classified as " Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" 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 ...

and as "vulnerable" by the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999''. The main threats to the species are fire during its growth and flowering period, grazing by feral pigs (''

Sus scrofa The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...

'') and road maintenance activities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287554 harringtoniae Orchids of Western Australia Endemic orchids of Australia Plants described in 2001 Endemic flora of Southwest Australia Taxa named by Stephen Hopper Taxa named by Andrew Phillip Brown