Microtis unifolia ( G.Forst. ) Rchb.f. 1871 Photo courtesy of Cathy Powers and her AUSTRALIAN TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS OTHER FLORA & FAUNA BANJORAH Website

Common Name The Single Leafed Microtis - Common Onion Orchid

Flower Size 1/8" [.3 cm]

Found in Java to Western Australia at elevations of 1500 to 2800 meters in montane grasslands with annual fires in the dry season as a medium sized, cold to cool growing terrestrial occuring in grassland and grassy areas in open forest, heathy forest and woodland with small, globose tubers giving rise to a single, terete, elongate, hollow [onion-like], basally sheathed leaf that blooms in the spring and summer on an erect, 9" [22.5 cm] long, several to amny [30] flowered inflorescence with flowers that only open on sunny days hence the common name of "Sun Orchid".

Synonyms Epipactis porrifolia Sw. 1800; Microtis aemula Schltr. 1906; Microtis banksii A.Cunn. ex Hook. 1835; Microtis formosana Schltr. ex Masam 1964; Microtis frutetorum Schltdl. 1847; Microtis longifolia Colenso 1885; Microtis papillosa Colenso 1885 publ. 1886; Microtis porrifolia (Sw.) R.Br. 1810; Microtis pulchella Lindl. 1840; Microtis viridis F.Muell. 1865; *Ophrys unifolia G.Forst. 1786

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchidiana Philipiniana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984; Native Orchids of New Caledonia Societe' Neo-Caledonienne D' Orchidophile 1995; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003

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