Thelymitra antennifera (Lindl.) Hook. f. 1858
Photos by Ron Heberle and the Thelymitra Page of The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia
Common Name The Antenna Thelymitra - The Rabbit Eared Sun Orchid - Lemon Orchid - Vanilla Sun Orchid
Flower Size .8 to 1.6" [2 to 4 cm]
Found in Western Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia at elevations of sea level to 400 meters in shrubby to heathy areas growing in clay with wet winters and grows into large colonies in full sun with a slender, wiry, flexuous, pinkish stem with 2 bracts situated at the points of flexation and carrying a single, terete, channeled leaf that blooms in the winter and spring in nature on an erect, 10" [25 cm] long, 1 to 4 flowered inflorescence with lemon to rose scented flowers.
Lindley reported that the natives of Western Australia ate the bulbs.
Synonyms Macdonaldia antennifera Lindl 1840
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Australia Nicholls 1969 drawing fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 photoAOS Bulletin Vol 76 No 12 2007 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 83 #3 2014 photo fide;
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