''Caladenia parva'' is a 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

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 south-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a ground orchid with a single leaf and one or two green flowers with red stripes along the

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 ...

Description

''Caladenia parva'' 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 a single leaf, long, wide and which often has red spots near its base. One or two greenish flowers with red stripes are borne on a spike tall. The sepals have thick, brown, club-like glandular tips long. The dorsal sepal curves forward and is long and about wide. The lateral sepals are long, about wide and are parallel to or sometimes cross over each other. The petals are long, wide and curve downwards. The labellum is greenish with a white central region a dark red tip which curls under. It is long and wide and has thin green teeth up to on the sides. There are four rows of reddish-black calli up to long in the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs in September and October.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia parva'' was first formally described in 1991 by

Geoffrey Carr Geoffrey Carr (22 January 1886 – 13 July 1969) was a Great Britain, British rowing Coxswain (rowing), coxswain who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Carr was born in Putney and became a member of Thames Rowing Club. He was the coxswain ...

from a specimen collected in the

Dergholm State Park The Dergholm State Park is located in the far west of Victoria, Australia. It is 390 km west of Melbourne and 450 km east of Adelaide, South Australia. Introduction The park has an area of 104 square kilometres and has a relatively dr ...

. The description was published in ''Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association Miscellaneous Paper 1''. 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 ...

(''parva'') 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 "little".

Distribution and habitat

The small spider orchid occurs in scattered locations across southern Victoria and the far south-eastern corner of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

where it grows woodland and coastal scrub.

Conservation

''Caladenia parva'' is not listed under the Victorian ''

Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 The ''Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988'', also known as the ''FFG Act'', is an act of the Victorian Government designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Au ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9673830 parva Plants described in 1991 Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of South Australia Orchids of Victoria (state)