Thelymitra

Thelymitra, [thel-ee-my-tra ], from thelys, a woman, and mitra, a cap; referring to the hooded column which bears a fanciful resemblance to a woman’s headdress.

orchid illustration 2

Some of the most showy and beautiful of West Australian orchids belong to this genus, represented by many species, commonly called “Sun Orchids,” with variously coloured flowers, often sweetly scented, in a terminal raceme.

The flowers, unlike the usual orchid type, have, sepals and petals nearly equal in length, with the lip similar to and spreading with them. This striking characteristic occurs among Australian orchids only in this genus.

Many interesting experiments and observations were made and recorded by R. D. Fitzgerald in regard to the fertilisation of the various species of Thelymitra (some of which are capable of self-fertilisation while others are wholly dependent on insects) by artificial pollination with the aid of a pin, and the use of a bell-glass placed over a plant in the early stages of its development, thus precluding the possibility of insect fertilisation, and proving in many cases, the presence of the power of self-fertilisation. Various species produced seed when crossed artificially among themselves, and with the various forms of Diuris.

The column is erect, rather short, and very broadly winged. Where the anther rises above the stigma, and the pollen masses crumble readily and fall on the stigma, the flower is usually capable of self-fertilisation. Some species fertilise themselves in the bud, the flower afterwards expanding. Where the pollen masses are not easily broken and come away readily at a touch, but whole, from behind or below the stigma, insects are necessary for fertilisation. The various species have a solitary leaf, usually with a long sheath.

The genus Thelymitra is principally Australian, but extends to New Zealand, New Caledonia and Java.

Thelymitra Species in Western Australia

Thelymitra antennifera, “CANARY ORCHID” “LEMON ORCHID” “VANILLA ORCHID”; bearing feelers.
- see Orchid Illustration 2, no 6
A small plant, stems erect, wiry, 6 in. to 1 ft high, with narrow-linear, rather thick leaves. Flowers, one, two or three; yellow, sepals suffused with red on the outside, delicately scented. Lateral lobes of the column reddish-brown, oblong, erect, spathulate. Fertilised by insects. A common species.
W.A.: Albany, Lesmurdie, Mundaring, Perth, Waroona, York. August – October.
South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria.

Thelymitra aristata, bearded, referring to the hair-tufts.
- see Orchid Illustration 2, no 2
A tall robust plant. Leaf broad, about 7 in. long. Flowers several, pale mauve; hood of column smooth at back, middle lobe dilated, its crest level with the white hair-tufts.
W.A.: Maylands., Stirling Range, Swan View. September – October.
New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria.

Thelymitra campanulata, bell-shaped.
A species considered distinct by some botanists, but not by Bentham, who could not separate it from Thelymitra canaliculalata. As originally described, the leaf is radical and linear. Flowers numerous, reddish-purple, bell-shaped. Column-hood with wide appendages and sharp-pointed apex barbed at middle, softly hairy at the back.
W.A.: Mt Toolbrunup. October.

Thelymitra canalicialata, channeled.
A species with habit and few, rather small flowers resembling the slender, narrow-leaved forms of Thelymitra ixioides, but the central lobe of column-hood is broader and though much more toothed, has no dorsal crest. Flowers bright blue with dark blue longitudinal lines; points of lateral wings of column produced forward into a bunch of light pink hairs, middle lobe toothed. Leaf, long, linear, deeply channeled. Usually favours clay soil.
W.A.: Albany, Bruce Rock, Dumbleyung, York. October – November.
Victoria, New South Wales.

Thelymitra carnea, flesh-coloured.
A slender species from 6 to 9 in. high. Leaf narrow, channeled. Flowers, one to three, small, pink to bright red, opening only in the sun. Column wings produced laterally into two denticulate and more or less roughened yellow horizontal lobes not bearing hair tufts. Intermediate lobe broad, reddish, slightly denticulate, and rather higher.
W.A.: Rarely Collected.

Thelymitra crinita, hairy, referring to the tufted crest of column.
- see Orchid Illustration 2, no 7
Usually above 1 ft high. Leaf very broadly lanceolate. Flowers, several in a loose raceme, of a beautiful shade of blue. Easily distinguished from other species by the hood of the column being densely crested. The wings enclose the column on three sides and terminate above in a dense tuft of purple hairs projecting forward. “Evidently fertilised by insects from the readiness with which pollen masses are removed from the anther, and their unbroken condition when extracted.” – Fitzgerald. Favours ironstone hills.
W.A.: Albany, Bruce Rock, Dumbleyung, Gosnells, Jarnadup, Jarrahdale, Kalamunda, Narrogin, Stirling Range, Swan View, Warren River, Weld River, Yallingup. September – December

Thelymitra fasciculata, arranged in a bundle.
A species somewhat resembling Thelymitra canaliculata and Thelymitra ixioides. Leaf linear, 1/4 in. to 3/4 in. long. Flowers lilac-blue, about five in a raceme. Column with pointed lobes or appendages and having no lobes or crest between them, but top of column covered by a mass of glands like a bundle of twigs.
W.A.: Albany, Busselton, Swan View. September – October.

Thelymitra flexuosa, undulating.
Stems slender, under 1 ft, wiry and flexuose, bending almost at right angles to the leaf and at each of the bracts. Flowers, smaller than other species; one to four, yellow, suffused with red on the outside. Sepals and petals obtuse, about ¼ in. long. Column-wing broadly truncate, slightly sinuate, but the lobes scarcely prominent. Usually found growing on wet flats.
W.A.: Albany, Helena Vale, Midland Junction, Mundaring, Pindalup, Pinjarra, Ravenswood. September – October.

Thelymitra fuscolutea, “ORANGE ORCHID” “SPOTTED ORCHID”; brown and yellow-flowered.
- see Orchid Illustration 2, no 9
A stout glabrous plant of 1 to 1½. ft Leaf ovate or oblong-lanceolate, 2 to 4 in. long. Flowers, very sweetly scented, large, in a terminal raceme, yellow, spotted with brown; sepals and petals broadly lanceolate. Dorsal appendage of the hood of column smooth, tubercular and notched at the end.
W.A.: Albany, Darlington Dumbleyung, Gosnells, Jarnadup, Jarrahdale, Manjimup, Stirling Range, Swan View, York. September-December.

Thelymitra ixioides, flowers like Ixia.
Usually above 1 ft, with several reddish-purple flowers, darkly veined. Middle lobe of hood crested at the top. “A type of the species in which the pollen masses are not friable but come away whole from behind the stigma, or the pollen in any way overlap it, or be overlapped by it, or crumble upon it” – Fitzgerald.
W.A.: Bibra Lakes, Busselton, Gilgerring, Lake Yangebup, Maylands, Pinjara. September – October.
All other States.

Thelymitra longifolia, long leaf.
Usually slender with a long narrow leaf. Flowers light purple. Middle lobe of column hood scarcely notched and entire, smooth, dark yellow and tubular in form. Points of lateral lobes of column densely fringed with white hairs. The several flowers, every one of which produces seed, are self-fertilised before opening, and only open about noon for a little while on calm sunny days.
W.A.: Darlington, Dumbleyung, Highbury, Jarnadup, Kalamunda, Katanniug, Narrogin, Swan View, Wagin, York, September – November.
All other States.

Thelymitra Macmillanii, honouring Thomas Macmillan.
A dwarf species, about 6 in. high, leaf narrow-linear, channeled, bract-like, dark green and smooth. Stem rigid, undulate and smooth. Flowers, two or three, salmon pink, petals and sepals spreading, faintly veined, lip slightly shorter. Column wings produced upwards into two tall yellow points with crested surface and margins. A rare species.
W.A.: Highbury. October.
South Australia, Victoria.

Thelymitra mucida, mouldy.
A slender species, scarcely 1 ft high. Leaf linear, about 6in. long, thick but slightly channeled. Flowers, two or three, blue; petals and sepals about 1/4 in. long. Column shorter and of a squarer form than in other species, hooded, the hood deeply and acutely emarginate with entire edges, very dark, but covered with a heavy bloom resembling mildew, which rubs off. Extreme lateral appendages produced horizontally, covered on the outside with yellow cilia, smooth on the inside.
This orchid was found by Fitzgerald at Wilson’s Inlet in September, on a plain in standing water in company with Microtis atrata, and he considered it a self-fertilising species.
W.A.: Wilsons Inlet September.

Thelymitra nuda, naked.
An intermediate species between the forms of Thelymitra that are independent, and those that are dependent upon insects for fertilisation. Stem about 18 in. Leaf about 7 in long. Flowers, pale mauve, as many as 12 or 13 in a spike Not considered distinct from Thelymitra longifolia by Bentham.
W.A.: Albany. September.
New South Wales.

Thelymitra pauciflora, few-flowered.
A single-flowered (blue) variety, somewhat resembling Thelymitra longifolia, but having the hood of column deeply divided. Not considered distinct by Bentham.
W.A.: Albany. September.
New South Wales, Victoria.

Thelymitra psammophila, sand-loving.
Stem 5 to 8 in. high, slightly flexuose. Leaf narrow-linear, 1½ to 3 in. long, empty bracts two or three, leaflike, ½ in. long. Flowers, 2 to 4, sepals and petals ovate, more or less acuminate, to nearly ½in, long, yellow. Column-wing continued behind, but shorter than the anther, with a broad rounded middle-lobe and narrow triangular lateral lobes, dark reddish-brown in colour. No red colouring on outside of sepals (Described Journal W.A. Natural History Society, May 1905.) Favours sand plains.
W.A.: Stirling Range, Upper Kalgan River. October.

Thelymitra Sargentii; honouring O. H. Sargent, of Perth, W.A.
A slender plant, up to 16 in., with a loose cylindrical sheath at base of stem about 2 in. long. Leaf lanceolate, acuminate, sheathing at base, reaching beyond the middle of the scape. Raceme loosely flowered, from 4 to 5 ½ in. long. Flowers, 10 to 14, rather large for the genus, yellow with brown dots, resembling those of Thelymitra fuscolutea. Perianth segments spreading or suberect. Column elongated erect, yellow, spotted, rather widely winged, produced high above the anther, three-lobed at the apex, middle lobe incurved, not crested on the back, deeply emarginate, the border otherwise entire, lateral lobes ascending, densely bearded, (Described Transactions Royal Society S.A., Vol. LIV., 1930.)
W.A.: Bencubbin, Bruce Rock, Dalwallinu. October.

Thelymitra stellata, star-like.
A stout species, 1 to 1 ½ ft, closely allied to Thelymitra fuscolutea. Flowers, yellow; sepals and petals narrow-lanceolate. Column-hooded deeply fringed with linear lobes, with a club shaped appendage on the back. Dorsal appendage of the hood crested at the end.
W.A.: Armadale, King’s Park, Perth, Jarnadup, Warren River. October – January.

Thelymitra tigrina, tiger like markings.
A slender plant. Leaf very narrow, glabrous and channeled. Flowers, small, yellow, spotted. Sepals and petals under in. long. Middle lobe of hood divided three times, without internal crest.
W.A.: Albany, Dalwallinu. November.

Thelymitra variegata, “LEOPARD ORCHID”; variegated.
- see Orchid Illustration 2, no 3
Stem 1 ft high or more. Leaf often spirally twisted about the base of stem. Flowers 2 to 4, large, purple, spotted. Lateral lobes of column orange-coloured, hornlike, oblong, erect, curved, toothed. In a note accompanying his description of a new species, Thelymitra d’Altonii, Dr. Rogers states that this Victorian variety is “evidently a near relation of Thelymitra spiralis, Lindi., and Thelymitra variegata, Lindi., two ill-defined and possibly composite West Australian forms. . . . The name variegata implies a character (presumably in the flowers) which receives no reference in either of the original descriptions.” (Transactions Royal Society of S.A., Vol. LIV., 1930). Dr. Rogers adds that Bentham retained only Thelymitra variegata, expressing doubt as to the wisdom of uniting these species, a point to be settled only after examination of a plentiful supply of material.
W.A.: Applecross., Canning Bridge, Gosnells, Northam, Perth, Wanneroo, Warren River. August – December.

Thelymitra villosa, “CUSTARD ORCHID”; hairy.
- see Orchid Illustration 2, no 8
A rather stout species, usually above 1 ft high, remarkable for its ovate leaf, hairy on both sides as well as the sheath, the rest of the plant being glabrous. Hairs on leaf run in longitudinal lines parallel to the margins. Flowers, large, yellow dotted with purple, in a loose raceme; middle lobe of the hood undivided, crested at the end, and a transverse crest inside the base. Lateral lobes of column densely fringed with orange-yellow hairs projecting forward.
W.A.: Busselton, Darlington, Gosnells, Harvey, Highbury, Kalamunda, Stirling Range, Swan View. September – October.

Thelymitra

Thelymitra Species in Western Australia

West Australian Orchids Series

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