''Caladenia alpina'', commonly known as the mountain caladenia, is a species of plant in the orchid family

Orchidaceae 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 ...

and is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to subalpine areas of south-eastern Australia and to New Zealand. It has a single fleshy leaf and a thin wiry flowering spike bearing two white flowers with red bars on the labellum. In

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

this orchid is sometimes known as ''Caladenia lyallii''.

Description

''Caladenia alpina'' 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 and a single, sparsely hairy, lance-shaped leaf, long and wide. The leaf is thick and fleshy and green to dark reddish-green. One to three flowers, usually two, are borne on a spike up to high and are about in diameter. The dorsal

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 ...

is a broad egg shape wide and curves forward to form a hood over the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

. The

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 and lateral sepals are broad, long and are white and glabrous on the front and pinkish red to maroon with glandular hairs on the back. The labellum is about long when flattened, white with dark red to purple spots and lines with a wavy margin, a few short teeth and a pointed tip. There are four well-spaced rows of calli on the surface of the labellum. The calli are club-shaped, yellow or whitish becoming darker and shorter towards the tip of the labellum. The

is about long with broad wings and has red spots or streaks. Caladenia alpina (labelled)

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia alpina'' was first formally described by Richard Sanders Rogers in 1927 and the description was published in ''

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in rel ...

''. Rogers described the species from specimens collected on

Mount Bogong Mount Bogong, , located in the Alpine National Park and part of the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, is the highest mountain in Victoria, Australia, at above sea level. The Big River separates the massif of the mountain from ...

and Mount Hotham in Victoria and from Mount Kosciuszko in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. 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 ...

(''alpina'') is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word meaning "of high mountains". In New Zealand the species is known as ''Caladenia lyallii'' although "some orchidologists" suggest that both ''C. lyallii'' and ''C. alpina'' occur in that country. The epithet (''lyallii'') honours the Scottish botanist

David Lyall David Lyall (1817–1895) MD, RN, FLS, was a Scottish botanist who explored Antarctica, New Zealand, the Arctic and North America and was a lifelong friend of Sir Joseph Hooker. He was born in Auchenblae, Kincardineshire, Scotland on 1 June 181 ...

, who was a friend of Joseph Hooker. ''Caladenia alpina'' is regarded as a synonym of '' Caladenia lyallii'' by the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

. ''Caladenia lyallii'' was first formally described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in ''

Flora Novae-Zelandiae The ''Flora Novae-Zelandiae'' is a description of the plants discovered in New Zealand during the Ross expedition written by Joseph Dalton Hooker and published by Reeve Brothers in London between 1853 and 1855. Hooker sailed on HMS ''Erebus'' as ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

Alpine caladenia usually grows in subalpine zones above in forest, Snow Gum

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

and

herbfield Herbfields are plant communities dominated by herbaceous plants, especially forbs and grasses. They are found where climatic conditions do not allow large woody plants to grow, such as in subantarctic and alpine tundra environments. Herbfield is ...

s or near ponds and bogs. In New South Wales it occurs on the Southern Tablelands south of the Brindabella Range and in Victoria on the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

and

Grampians The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. T ...

. In New Zealand, ''Caladenia lyallii'' occurs on both the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

s as well as on

Stewart Island Stewart Island ( mi, Rakiura, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land ar ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15490463, from2=Q3283221 alpina Plants described in 1927 Orchids of New Zealand Orchids of New South Wales Orchids of Victoria (state) Taxa named by Richard Sanders Rogers