Diuris Purdiei
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''Diuris purdiei'', commonly known as Purdie's donkey 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 ...
that 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 ...
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 has between five and ten leaves at its base and up to eight pale yellow flowers with reddish-brown or purplish markings. It mainly grows in swampy areas and only flowers after fires the previous summer.


Description

''Diuris purdiei'' is a
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 ...
ous,
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 ...
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 between five and ten spirally twisted leaves in a tuft near its base. Each leaf is long, wide. Up to eight pale yellow flowers with reddish brown or purplish markings near the centre, long and wide are borne on a flowering stem tall. The dorsal sepal is more or less erect or curved backwards, long and wide. The lateral sepals are long, about wide and turned downwards. The
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 spread widely apart from each other, almost held horizontally with an egg-shaped blade long and wide on a reddish brown stalk long. The labellum is long and has three lobes. The centre lobe is heart-shaped, wide and the side lobes are long and about wide with serrated edges. There are two ridge-like calli in the centre of the labellum near its base. Flowering occurs in September and October.


Taxonomy and naming

''Diuris purdiei'' was first formally described in 1903 by
Ludwig Diels Dr. Friedrich Ludwig Emil Diels (24 September 1874 – 30 November 1945) was a German botanist. Diels was born in Hamburg, the son of the classical scholar Hermann Alexander Diels. From 1900 to 1902 he traveled together with Ernst Georg Prit ...
from a specimen collected near Cannington, and the description was published in ''Journal and Proceedings of the Mueller Botanic Society of Western Australia''. 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 ...
(''purdiei'') honours the
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
born academic, Alex Purdie who collected the type specimen.


Distribution and habitat

Purdie's donkey orchid grows in winter-wet swamps under dense shrubs and is found between
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
and Yarloop 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 ...
and
Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...
.


Conservation

''Diuris purdiei'' is classified as "endangered" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and as " Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia). The population of this orchid has been fragmented by urbanisation and the current threats to the species are habitat loss and weed invasion.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10267415 purdiei Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Western Australia Endemic flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1903 Taxa named by Ludwig Diels