''Caleana gracilicordata'', commonly known as the slender-leafed duck 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 ...
to the
south-west
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. It is a small, late flowering duck orchid with a single small, smooth, heart-shaped leaf and a single greenish yellow and red flower. It usually grows in mossy places on granite outcrops.
Description
''Caleana gracilicordata'' has a single smooth, narrow heart-shaped, dull green to dull red leaf, long and wide. The leaf is usually withered by flowering time. Usually only one greenish-yellow and red flower, about long and wide is borne on a flowering stem high. The dorsal sepal, lateral sepals 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 are narrow and hang downwards with the dorsal sepal pressed against the column which has broad wings, forming a bucket-like shape. About one-half to one-third of the outer part of the labellum is covered with glossy black
glands
In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland).
Structure
De ...
or calli and the labellum has a flattened top. Flowering occurs from late October to November.
Taxonomy and naming
The slender-leafed duck orchid was first formally described in 2006 by
Stephen Hopper
Stephen Donald Hopper AC FLS FTSE (born 18 June 1951) is a Western Australian botanist. He graduated in Biology, specialising in conservation biology and vascular plants. Hopper has written eight books, and has over 200 publications to his n ...
and Andrew Brown who gave it the name ''Paracaleana gracilicordata''. The description was published in '' Australian Systematic Botany'' from a specimen collected near Jarrahdale. In 2014, based on molecular studies, Joseph Miller and Mark Clements transferred all the species previously in ''Paracaleana'' to ''Caleana'' so that the present species became ''Caleana gracilicordata''. 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 ...
(''gracilicordata'') is derived from 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 ...
words ''gracilis'' meaning "slender" or "gracile" and ''cordata'' meaning "heart-shaped", referring to the shape of the leaf of this orchid.
Distribution and habitat
''Caleana gracilicordata'' grows with mosses and
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Waroona and the Brookton Highway in the
Jarrah Forest
Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...
biogeographic region
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
.
Conservation
''Caleana gracilicordata'' (as ''Paracaleana gracilicordata'') is classified as " Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia
Department of Parks and Wildlife
The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...
, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.