Pheladenia
| Blue fairy orchid | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Pheladenia deformis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Orchidoideae |
| Tribe: | Diurideae |
| Subtribe: | Caladeniinae |
| Genus: |
Pheladenia D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. |
| Species: | P. deformis |
| Binomial name | |
|
Pheladenia deformis (R.Br.) D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. |
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| Synonyms | |
Pheladenia deformis, commonly known as blue fairy orchid or blue beard is the only species of the flowering plant genus Pheladenia in the orchid family, Orchidaceae and is endemic to Australia. It was originally named as Caladenia deformis and has since had several name changes. Plants have a single, narrow, hairy leaf and usually blue flowers with relatively short, broad sepals and petals and an unusual labellum.
Pheladenia deformis is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herb with a few inconspicuous, fine roots and a tuber partly surrounded by a fibrous sheath. The tuber produces two "droppers" which become daughter tubers in the following year. There is a single hairy convolute leaf at the base of the plant. The leaf is linear, 3–10 cm (1–4 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide with a few hairs, especially on the edges, about 1 mm (0.04 in) long.
There is usually a single flower on a stem 5–15 cm (2–6 in) high. The three sepals and two petals are 14–20 mm (0.6–0.8 in) long, 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. The outer surface usually has a few glandular hairs and the inner surface is bright blue, or sometimes white, pinkish or yellow. As is usual in orchids, one petal is highly modified as the central labellum. The labellum is dark blue near its tip, white near the base, 10–14 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) wide. The edge of the labellum is fringed and there are many stalked calli, giving rise to the name blue beard . The column is 7–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide.
This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Caladenia deformis. The description was published in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae from a specimen collected at "Port Dalrymple", now George Town in Tasmania.
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Wikipedia