''Caladenia vulgaris'', commonly known as summer fingers, or slender pink-fingers 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 ...

to southern

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 has a single, long, erect, hairy leaf and one or two pink or whitish flowers.

Description

''Caladenia vulgaris'' 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 which usually grows as solitary plants. It has a single hairy, dark green leaf, 150–270 mm long, 2–3 mm wide which is red near its base. One or two dull pinkish to white flowers about 12 mm wide are borne on a stalk 150–360 mm tall. The backs of the flowers are densely hairy and pinkish with brown bands. The dorsal sepal is 10–15 mm long, 2–4 mm wide and curves forward 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 lateral sepals are 10–18 mm long, 3–6 mm wide, slightly curved and fused at their bases. The petals are 10–17 mm long, 3–5 mm wide and spread widely. The labellum is 5–7 mm long and 5–8 mm wide, white or pink with narrow red bars and a yellow tip. The lateral lobes of the labellum are erect and surround the column while the central part has eight to ten short teeth on the sides. The tip of the labellum is curves slightly downwards and there are two rows of yellow to orange stalked calli along the mid-line. Flowering occurs from October to January but some flowers are

self-pollinating Self-pollination is a form of pollination in which pollen from the same plant arrives at the stigma of a flower (in flowering plants) or at the ovule (in gymnosperms). There are two types of self-pollination: in autogamy, pollen is transferred to ...

and do not fully open.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia vulgaris'' was first described in 1998 by David Jones from a specimen collected near Glencoe 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 ...

(''vulgaris'') 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 "common" or "commonplace".

Distribution and habitat

Summer fingers occurs in Victoria,

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 ...

and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. In Victoria and South Australia it grows in moist heath and in Tasmania it also grows in moist forest and rainforest.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9674046 Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Victoria (state) Orchids of South Australia Orchids of Tasmania vulgaris Plants described in 1991 Taxa named by David L. Jones (botanist)