''Caladenia zephyra'' 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 ...

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 ...

. It is a ground orchid with a single, densely hairy leaf and a single cream-coloured to very pale yellow flower with blackish glandular hairs 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 ...

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 ...

s. It occurs on the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...

but may have a wider distribution.

Description

''Caladenia zephyra'' 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 a single densely hairy, narrow oblong to lance-shaped leaf long and wide. The leaf is dull green with a purple blotched base. A single cream-coloured to very pale yellow flower is borne on a densely hairy, wiry flowering stem tall. The dorsal sepal is erect, long and wide but suddenly tapers at about one-third of its length to a thread-like tail with blackish glandular hairs. The lateral sepals are long and wide but suddenly taper like the dorsal sepal to a glandular tip. The petals are long and wide and also taper to a thread-like, glandular tip. The labellum is egg-shaped to lance-shaped, long and wide and erect near its base before curving downwards. The side lobes of the labellum are erect, about wide with between seven and twelve thread like teeth about long on each side, each with a small egg-shaped tip. There are six rows of club-shaped, creamy yellow calli along the mid-line of the labellum. Flowering occurs in late August and September.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones who gave it the name ''Arachnorchis zephyra''. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected in the

Carappee Hill Conservation Park __NOTOC__ Carappee Hill Conservation Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on the Eyre Peninsula in the gazetted locality of Darke Peak about north-east of the town centre in Darke Peak. The conservation p ...

and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research''. In 2008 Robert Bates changed the name to ''Caladenia zephyra'' and published the change in '' Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden''. 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 ...

(''zephyra'') 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 "west wind", referring to the westerly distribution of the species compared to that of the related and similar '' C. arenaria''.

Distribution and habitat

''Caladenia zephyra'' is only known from the

botanical region of South Australia where it grows in mixed ''

Callitris ''Callitris'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are 16 recognized species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other three (''C. neocaledonica, C. sulcata'' and ''C. p ...

'' - ''

Allocasuarina ''Allocasuarina'' is a genus of trees in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus ''Casuarina'', they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks. Wi ...

'' woodland, but it may have a more extensive range.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287746

zephyra ''Zephyra'' is a genus of cormous plants in the Tecophilaeaceae, first described as a genus in 1832. It is endemic to the Republic of Chile in South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in ...

Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of South Australia Plants described in 2006 Taxa named by David L. Jones (botanist) Taxa named by Robert John Bates