![Basalt Sun Orchid (Thelymitra gregaria) | by [S u m m i t] s c a p e](http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52469401175_dd3ab7252d.jpg)
Basalt Sun Orchid (Thelymitra gregaria)
ID suggested by the VIC online Brains Trust. A huge discovery if so. Rare and critically endangered. Just this one specimen so far, growing in an area where T. ixioides, rubra, pauciflora and megcalyptra prevail. With bulbous buds and deeply coloured flowers, it sure captured my attention.
Diagnostics
Clumping habit (but not this one). Purplish flower stem to 20 cm with up to six dark violet to purple flowers to 40 mm with dark veins, opening freely. Column slender, pink, blue or purplish; mid-lobe dark brown to blackish, apex yellow, shallowly bilobed, hair-tufts toothbrush-like. Flowering September-November.
Location: a quiet little reserve in Central Victoria, c. 150km beyond the known range for the species, mainly across south-west Victoria.
These are the first photos of this species to appear on Flickr
Leaf: flic.kr/p/2nWssSr
Habit: flic.kr/p/2nWv2yi
Basalt Sun Orchid (Thelymitra gregaria)
ID suggested by the VIC online Brains Trust. A huge discovery if so. Rare and critically endangered. Just this one specimen so far, growing in an area where T. ixioides, rubra, pauciflora and megcalyptra prevail. With bulbous buds and deeply coloured flowers, it sure captured my attention.
Diagnostics
Clumping habit (but not this one). Purplish flower stem to 20 cm with up to six dark violet to purple flowers to 40 mm with dark veins, opening freely. Column slender, pink, blue or purplish; mid-lobe dark brown to blackish, apex yellow, shallowly bilobed, hair-tufts toothbrush-like. Flowering September-November.
Location: a quiet little reserve in Central Victoria, c. 150km beyond the known range for the species, mainly across south-west Victoria.
These are the first photos of this species to appear on Flickr
Leaf: flic.kr/p/2nWssSr
Habit: flic.kr/p/2nWv2yi