Species profile—Calochilus psednus
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Orchidaceae → Calochilus psednus
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Orchidaceae
- Scientific name
- Calochilus psednus D.L.Jones & Lavarack
- WildNet taxon ID
- 8548
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Endangered
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) status
- Endangered
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- Yes
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Short Notes
- Status annotated by author (Jones)
- Description
- Calochilus psednus is a slender, tuberous, terrestrial orchid. The brown, fleshy, egg-shaped tuber-like roots are up to 3.5cm long and 1cm wide. The leaves are 60-120mm long by 3-5mm wide and are absent at the time of flowering.
The flower stems are very slender and wiry, 25-35cm tall and support up to three flowers. Each flower measures 11-13mm long and 7-9mm wide and is on a slender, curved stalk 8-14mm long. The outer segments of the flower spread widely in temperatures above 20 degrees celsius. The petals are dull green to bluish-green in colour with red-brown linear lines. A modified petal, called a labellum, is flat and divided into three lobes. It is 10-11mm long, 6.5-7mm wide, shiny and reddish brown in colour. The basal three-quarters of the labellum are covered in sparse, short purple hairs to 1mm long. (Jones & Lavarack 1989; DEWHA 2008) - Map
- View Map
- Habitat
- Calochilus psednus grows in low Melaleuca woodland with an understorey of dense sedges and scattered low shrubs. The soils are seasonally inundated sandy loams. (DEWHA 2008)
- Reproduction
- Calochilus psednus flowers between December and February. (Jones & Lavarack 1989)
- Threatening processes
- Inappropriate fire regimes which could prove fatal to the species. The existing habitat is fragmented and has been disturbed by a road construction. There is no security from collectors.
- Notes
- Contributors: Weslawa Misiak 10/09/1998; Peter Bostock, Mellisa Mayhew 13/03/2009
- References
- Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2008). Calochilus psednus in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra. Accessed 25/09/2008. http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl
Dockrill, A.W. (1992). Australian Indigenous Orchids. Volume 1 & 2. Surrey Beatty & Sons in association with The Society for Growing Australian Plants, Chipping Norton, NSW.
Herbrecs (2008). Calochilus psednus, in BriMapper version 2.12. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 25/09/2008.
Jones, D.L. & Lavarack, P.S. (1989). New Species of Calochilus (Orchidaceae) from North-Eastern Queensland. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 100: 101-103. - Profile author
- Peter Bostock (13/03/2009)
Other resources
- Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT)
- The Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH)
- Atlas of Living Australia
Data source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=8548.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
