''Caladenia phaeoclavia'', commonly known as the brown-clubbed spider 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 ...

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 ...

. It has a single, hairy leaf and a single light to dark green flower with red stripes and thick, brownish club-like tips on 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 ...

Description

''Caladenia phaeoclavia'' 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 ...

. It has a single hairy, dull green, linear to lance-shaped leaf, long and wide with reddish-purple blotches near the base. A single flower about wide is borne on a hairy, wiry stalk tall. The sepals and petals are pale to dark green with a central dark red stripe. The sepals have thick, brownish, club-like glandular tips about long. The dorsal sepal is erect, curves slightly forward and is long and about wide. The lateral sepals are long, about wide and spread downwards. The petals are long and wide and arranged like the lateral sepals. The labellum is long, wide and green and white with a dark red tip which is curled under. The sides of the labellum curve up strongly and have five or six teeth up to long on each side. There are four rows of dark red, club-shaped calli up to long in the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs from October to November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia phaeoclavia'' was first described in 1999 by David Jones from a specimen collected in the Wambool Nature Reserve near Yetholme and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research''. 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 ...

(''phaeoclavia'') 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 ...

word ''phaios'' meaning "brown" and the

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 ''clava'' meaning "club" referring to the brown, club-like tips of the sepals.

Distribution and habitat

The brown-clubbed spider orchid is found in New South Wales, south from the Bathurst district where it grows in eucalypt forest often on ridges and slopes. It probably also occurs in Victoria.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287624 phaeoclavia Orchids of New South Wales Endemic orchids of Australia Plants described in 1999 Taxa named by David L. Jones (botanist)