Caladenia lorea Blushing Spider Orchid Endemic
While taking photos of various plants at this reserve, I was spotted by one of the locals who asked me if I wanted to see a rarity. He seemed to know his plants referring to the systematic names in the way an enthusiast does and then proudly announced that this was the very rare Caladenia excelsa (Giant Spider Orchid). Being new to the Australian flora I took him at his word and photographed this great find. He then described accurately where to find various other plants which I now know he correctly identified.
I recorded this plant as C. excelsa until I looked up the details in Noel Hoffman and Andrew Brown's excellent book on Orchids of south west Australia. Not only would this be a record for C. excelsa way out of range (it normally grows in the far south west over 200 miles away) but it doesn't actually look that all that much like the various photos I've seen of this rare plant. I had thought that the nearest fit for this plant was Caladenia ferruginea (Rusty Spider Orchid) but that would place it out of range so I first published it as Caladenia aff. ferruginea (which means a bit like C. ferruginea).
I have been contacted by an Australian botanist studying the red-lipped Spider Orchids who assures me that it isn't C. ferruginea but is most likely to be Caladenia lorea (assuming it isn't a hybrid) and this does grow in the area according to the distribution maps in the orchid book above. Thanks to Cam Smith for the I.D.
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Eastern side of Badgingarra reserve off Brand Highway, near Caravan site on open ground, 8th September 2007
Added on 17th March 2008, updated 8th October 2008 & 11th November 2008, updated 10th March 2010, updated 17th July 2015