''Caladenia xanthochila'', commonly known as the yellow-lip spider orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic 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 is a rare ground orchid with a single leaf and usually only one pale greenish-yellow flower. Only a few plants are known from Victoria and South Australia.

Description

''Caladenia xanthochila'' 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 a single leaf, long and wide. One, rarely two flowers wide are borne on a hairy spike high. The sepals have red, club-like glandular tips . The dorsal sepal is erect, long and wide. The lateral sepals have similar dimensions to the dorsal sepal, spread apart from each other and curve downwards. The petals are long, about wide and arranged like the lateral sepals. The labellum is greenish-yellow, long, wide with yellow or red, club-shaped teeth up to about long on the sides but decreasing in length towards the tip. The tip of the labellum is curled under and there are four or six rows of calli up to 1 mm long, along its mid-line. Flowering occurs from August to September.

Taxonomy and naming

''Caladenia xanthochila'' was first formally described by David and Cam Beardsell in 1992 and the description was published in '' Australian Systematic Botany'' from a specimen collected near Murtoa. 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 ...

(''xanthochila'') is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''xanthos'' meaning "yellow" and ''cheilos'' meaning "lip".

Distribution and habitat

Yellow-lip spider orchid grows in '' Eucalyptus leucoxylon'' woodland on sandy soil. It is only known from four sites near

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

and Dimboola in Victoria and one site in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, the latter site containing only two plants.

Conservation

''Caladenia xanthochila'' is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and as "endangered" 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 ...

. Effort are being made to increase the numbers of this orchid in the wild.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287732 xanthochila Plants described in 1992 Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Victoria (state)