Thelymitra grandiflora Fitzg. 1882

Photo by © Colin & Misha Rowan and their Retired Aussies Orchid Photo Website

Common Name The Large Flowered Thelymitra - In Australia The Giant Sun Orchid

Flower Size 1.2 to 1.6" [3 to 4 cm]

Found in South Australia at elevations of 0 to 300 meters in open forests, shrubland and heathland as a medium to giant sized, cold growing terrestrial with an erect, often robust stem carrying 3 to 4 large, acute stem bracts, the lower ones leafy and a single, erect, very thick, widely lanceolate, sometimes spotted leaf that blooms in the spring on an erect, 12 to 40" [30 to 100 cm] long, 6 to 40 flowered inflorescence .

Many references cite this name as a synonym of T aristata.

Synonyms Thelymitra grandiflora subsp. exposa R.J.Bates 2014

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; AOS Bulletin Vol 35 No 4 1966 photo fide; Orchids of Australia Nicholls 1969 drawing fide; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 photo good

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