Wallum leek orchid | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Orchidaceae |
Subfamily: | Orchidoideae |
Tribe: | Diurideae |
Subtribe: | Prasophyllinae |
Genus: | Prasophyllum |
Species: | P. wallum |
Binomial name | |
Prasophyllum wallum R.J.Bates & D.L.Jones [1] | |
Prasophyllum wallum, commonly known as the wallum leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to a small area in Queensland. It has a single tubular leaf and up to eighteen scented, greenish flowers with a white labellum. It is a distinctive species of leek orchid with its green and white, crowded flowers.
Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.
Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).
In botany, the labellum is the part of the flower of an orchid or Canna, or other less-known genera that serves to attract insects, which pollinate the flower, and acts as a landing platform for them.
Prasophyllum wallum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single tube-shaped leaf, 200–350 mm (8–10 in) long and 7–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) wide with a green base. Between twelve and eighteen flowers are crowded along a flowering spike 50–80 mm (2–3 in) long, reaching to a height of 200–400 mm (8–20 in). The flowers are greenish, 7–9 mm (0.3–0.4 in) wide and scented. As with others in the genus, the flowers are inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The dorsal sepal is lance-shaped to egg-shaped, 7–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, 7–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long, 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide and joined for about half their length. The petals are linear, curved, 5–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) wide. The labellum is white, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, 7–8 mm (0.28–0.31 in) long, 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) wide and turns upwards through less than 90° near its middle, and the upturned part has crinkled or wavy edges. Flowering occurs in August or September. [2] [3] [4]
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. Some sources cite perennial plants being plants that live more than three years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials.
In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous (/dɪˈsɪdʒuəs/) means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flowering; and to the shedding of ripe fruit.
Herbaceous plants in Botany, frequently shortened to herbs, are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stem above ground. Herb has other meanings in cooking, medicine, and other fields. Herbaceous plants are those plants that do not have woody stems, they include many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials, they include both forbs and graminoids.
Prasophyllum wallum was first formally described in 1991 by Robert Bates and David Jones from a specimen collected near Coolum and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research. [1] [2] The specific epithet (wallum) refers to the wallum community where this species occurs. [2]
David Lloyd Jones is an Australian horticultural botanist and the author of a large number of books and papers, especially on Australian orchids.
Coolum Beach is a beachside town and suburb of the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia and is also the name of the beach around which the town is based. In the 2016 census, Coolum Beach had a population of 8,497 people.
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP). The code of nomenclature covers "all organisms traditionally treated as algae, fungi, or plants, whether fossil or non-fossil, including blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), chytrids, oomycetes, slime moulds and photosynthetic protists with their taxonomically related non-photosynthetic groups ."
The wallum leek orchid grows in wallum and nearby stabilised sand dunes between Hervey Bay and Coolum. [2] [3]
Hervey Bay is a bay and a city in the Fraser Coast Region of Queensland, Australia. The city is situated approximately 290 kilometres (180 mi) or 3½ hours' highway drive north of the state capital, Brisbane. It is a natural bay between the Queensland mainland and nearby Fraser Island. The local economy relies on tourism which is based primarily around whale watching in Platypus Bay to the north, ferry access to Fraser Island, accessible recreational fishing and boating and the natural north facing, calm beaches with wide undeveloped foreshore zones.
Prasophyllum wallum is listed as "Vulnerable" under the Commonwealth Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) Act and the Queensland Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 2006 . The main threat to the species are habitat loss, inappropriate fire regimes and illegal collecting. [4]
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and culturally significant places. Enacted on 17 July 2000, it established a range of processes to help protect and promote the recovery of threatened species and ecological communities, and preserve significant places from decline. The EPBC Act replaced the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975.
Prasophyllum anticum, commonly known as the Pretty Hill leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to Victoria. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf and between ten and twenty five scented, greenish-brown flowers and is only known from a small area in the south-west of the state.
Prasophyllum petilum, commonly known as the Tarengo leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has a single tubular, green leaf and up to eighteen pinkish mauve to greenish flowers, well-spaced along a slender flowering stem. It is a small orchid, difficult to locate, generally growing in taller grasses.
Prasophyllum montanum, commonly known as the mountain leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has a single tubular, green leaf and up to fifty scented, greenish to pinkish flowers. It grows in montane ecosystems at altitudes above 1,500 m (5,000 ft).
Prasophyllum campestre, commonly known as the sandplain leek orchid, or inland leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has a single tubular, yellowish-green leaf and up to twenty greenish, strongly scented flowers with red, purplish, brown or white marks. It grows in the drier parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
Prasophyllum canaliculatum, commonly known as the channelled leek orchid or summer leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to a small area of southern New South Wales. It has a single tubular, bright green leaf and up to twenty five scented, greenish-red or brownish flowers on a flowering stem. It grows in woodland at altitudes around 1,000 m (3,000 ft) where only about two hundred plants survive.
Prasophyllum crebriflorum, commonly known as the crowded leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to Tasmania. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf with a purplish base and up to twenty five reddish-brown flowers. It is only known from four relatively small populations growing at high altitudes.
Prasophyllum dossenum is a species of orchid endemic to a small area of northern New South Wales. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf and up to thirty scented pinkish-white and greenish-brown flowers crowded along an erect flowering stem. It is a rare orchid which grows in grassy places on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales.
Prasophyllum hygrophilum, commonly known as the swamp leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to Victoria. It has a single tubular green leaf and up to thirty greenish brown, pink or mauve flowers. It is a rare orchid only known from two populations and is classified as "endangered" in Victoria.
Prasophyllum incompositum is a species of orchid endemic to Queensland. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf and up to thirty scented, greenish-brown and white flowers. It has only been recorded from the Carnarvon National Park.
Prasophyllum maccannii, commonly known as the inland leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to Victoria. It has a single tubular green leaf and up to forty green, greenish-pink or brownish flowers. It is found in the central-west of the state, growing in open forest.
Prasophyllum milfordense is a species of orchid endemic to Tasmania. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf and up to thirty greenish-brown, white and purplish flowers. It is a very rare orchid, only found in a single location with a population of around 240 plants.
Prasophyllum niphopedium, commonly known as the marsh leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to a small area in Victoria. It has a single tubular leaf and up to twenty greenish flowers with reddish markings. It is only known from five population on grassy alpine plains with the total number of individual plants less than five hundred.
Prasophyllum perangustum, commonly known as the Knocklofty leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to Tasmania. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf and up to fifteen greenish or light brown flowers with a white labellum. It is a very rare orchid with only six plants recorded in 1993.
Prasophyllum tunbridgense, commonly known as the Tunbridge leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to Tasmania. It has a single tubular, bright green leaf and up to twenty five relatively large, green to light greenish-brown flowers with white petals and a large white labellum.
Prasophyllum viretrum is a species of orchid endemic to Victoria. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf and up to thirty five scented, greenish-brown to brownish flowers and is only known from a few small populations in south-western Victoria.
Prasophyllum roseum, commonly known as the pink lip leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to southern continental Australia. It has a single tube-shaped leaf and up to thirty greenish flowers with a pink labellum. It is a recently described plant, previously included with P. fitzgeraldii, but distinguished from that species by its smaller, less crowded flowers, with more spreading lateral sepals and different labellum callus. It grows in the south-east of South Australia and in western Victoria.
Prasophyllum collinum is a species of orchid endemic to South Australia. It has a single tubular leaf and up to thirty lemon-scented, greenish brown and white flowers. It is only known from the Eyre Peninsula where it grows in sparse woodland.
Prasophyllum graniticola is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a single tubular, shiny dark green leaf and up to twenty five scented, greenish to brownish and white flowers. It is only known from two populations on the Northern Tablelands.
Prasophyllum holzingeri is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a single tubular, shiny dark green leaf and up to fifteen unscented, greenish to brownish pink and white flowers. It is only known from a few populations in the Barrington Tops area.
Prasophyllum pilligaense is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a single tubular, shiny dark green leaf and up to thirty scented greenish brown to brownish and white flowers. It is only known from a few populations in the Coonabarabran district.