''Caladenia sylvicola'', commonly known as forest fingers, is a species of orchid endemic to Tasmania. It has a single erect, sparsely hairy leaf and a single white flower with a greenish back.

Description

''Caladenia sylvicola'' 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 which grows as single plants or in small, loose groups. It has a single erect, sparsely hairy, dark green leaf, 100–150 mm long and 1.5-2.0 mm wide. A single flower 14–18 mm long and 17–22 mm wide is borne on a stalk 100–160 mm tall. The flowers are white with greenish backs. The dorsal sepal is 9–11 mm long, about 2 mm wide and erect or curved forward. The lateral sepals and petals have about the same dimensions as the dorsal sepal but spread forward fan-like, in front of the flower. The labellum is 5–7 mm long, 6–7 mm wide and white with an orange to yellow tip. The sides of the labellum have lobes which are erect and partly enclose 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. ...

and the front part of the labellum has three to five teeth up to 1 mm long on each side and decreasing in length towards the tip. The tip of the labellum is curved downward and there are two rows of calli up to 1mm long, some with orange tips, along the mid-line of the labellum. Flowering occurs from October to November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia sylvicola'' was first described in 1998 by David Jones from a specimen collected in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

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 ...

(''sylvicola'') is derived from Latin word meaning "forest" and the "dweller" referring to the preferred habitat of this species.

Distribution and habitat

Forest fingers is only known from two sites near Hobart, growing in open forest in leaf litter or near dense shrubs. The total population was estimated in 1997 to be twenty mature plants, but following a fire no further plants were seen for several years. A single specimen was seen in 2009.

Conservation

''Caladenia sylvicola'' is classified as "critically endangered" under the Commonwealth Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (EPBC) Act and "endangered' under the Tasmanian '' Threatened Species Protection Act 1995''. The main threats to the species are land clearing and

habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes ...

, inappropriate fire regimes and accidental trampling.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287718 sylvicola Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Tasmania Plants described in 1998 Endemic flora of Tasmania Taxa named by David L. Jones (botanist)