''Caladenia interjacens'', commonly known as the Walpole 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 one or two pale pink and white flowers which lack the red tip on the labellum common to many other similar caladenias.

Description

''Caladenia interjacens'' 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. One or two white flowers with pinkish markings and long and wide are borne on a stalk tall. The sepals have pinkish-grey to brownish, club-like glandular tips long. The dorsal sepal is erect, long and wide. The lateral sepals are long, wide and turn stiffly downwards. The petals are long and wide and spread nearly horizontally. The labellum is long and wide and pinkish-white with the tip rolled under and lacking a red tip. The sides of the labellum have pinkish teeth up to long and four to six rows of pinkish to deep red calli up to long in the centre. Flowering occurs from September to late October.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia interjacens'' 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 in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park 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 ...

(''interjacens'') is a Latin word meaning "intervening" or "coming between" referring to the characteristics of the flowers of this species being intermediate between those of '' Caladenia longicauda'' and '' C. huegelii''.

Distribution and habitat

The Walpole spider orchid occurs between Walpole and West Cliff Point 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 in woodland and in low coastal heath.

Conservation

''Caladenia interjacens'' is classified as " Priority Four" 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 ...

, meaning that is rare or near threatened.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15287555 interjacens 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