Thelymitra mucida Fitzg. 1882 Photo by Colin Rowan and the Retired Aussies Website
Inflorescence Photo by Ron Heberle and the Thelymitra Page of The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia
LATE
EARLY
Common Name The Plum Sun Orchid
Flower Size .6 to .8" [1.4 to 2.2 cm]
Found in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia as a small to medium sized, cold growing terrestrial in peaty swamps often in standing water at elevations of sea level to 100 meters with a slender stem carrying a single, linear, thick, channeled, oblong-lanceolate, acute leaf that blooms in the late winter and early spring on an erect, 7.2 to 22" [18 to 55 cm] long, 1 to 6 flowered inflorescence with usually 2 sterile bracts. The mucine at the top of the column is similar to silver frost & can be used to write on paper.
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Australia Nicholls 1969 drawing fide; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 photo good
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