Australian Terrestrial Orchid ID - HELP?

Question

G'day good people. Can anyone ID this Orchid please. Slides were taken September 1991 (hence the poor quality, sorry) Halls Road, Enfield State forest, South of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

http://360.yahoo.com/profile-7GHSdjoydKkrS9og3u6FnWo-

Hope this link works folks, haven't tried this before. Thanks.

Sorry guys, I forgot. The nearest name I could come up with was Acianthus caudatus (Mayflower Orchid). And that was back in 1991

Answer 1

Tricky.

Probably a species of Caladenia; see reference 1, perhaps C. concolor (reference 2)- but this species is very rare.

You should probably inquire here:

http://terrorchid.proboards27.com/index.cgi?board=aus

They would be much more helpful; my specialty is epiphytic species, and mainly South American at that.

Edited to add: It does look like A. caudatus; it has been moved to a new genus, and is known as Nemacianthus caudatus. Do an images.google.com search for the species, and the similarity is bang on. Looks like that's got it.

Answer 2

The name is correct. It is Acianthus caudatus.

It is also called May fly orchid ( not Mayflower)

Gnat orchid and mosquito orchid are other names.
It is an insect pollinated terrestrial orchid ( ground orchid) found in South East Australia.

The generic name Acianthus is due to very narrow and needle like pointed floral parts( anthus= flower/floral parts; acicular= very sharp and pointed like a needle).

The specific name caudatus is due to very long almost tail like spur at the lower side of the flower.

Remember in fish a caudal fin means tail fin .
and in higher animals like mammals the caudal vertebra is the vertebra located in its tail.

Answer 3

The link works --- wanted to let you know. I looked at the orchid, but don't know what variety it is.

(Sorry.)

CC

Answer 4

h

Answer 5

try