Thelymitra spiralis (Lindl.) F. Muell. 1865
Photos by Ron Heberle and the Thelymitra Page of The Species Orchid Society of Western Australia 
LATE
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Common Name The Spiral Thelymitra - In Australia Curly Locks
Flower Size .8 to 2" [2 to 5 cm]
Found in Western Australia at elevations of sea level to 400 meters among sedges and rushes in winter wet depressions and swamps as a miniature to medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial orchid with a quite glabrous, erect stem with a subulate, near the middle bract and carrying a single, basally reddish, sheath villous, spirally twisted, lamina glabrous, linear, lobed leaf that encircles the flower stem like a corkscrew around a stick and blooms in the winter and spring on an erect, 4 to 18" [45 cm] long, 1 to 3 flowered, wiry inflorescence with short lived flowers
Synonyms *Macdonaldia spiralis Lindl. 1839; Thelymitra spiralis var. pallida Nicholls 1949; Thelymitra spiralis var. punctata Nicholls 1949; Thelymitra spiralis var. scoulerae Nicholls 1949
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Australia Nicholls 1969 drawing fide; Orchids of Australia Nicholls 1969 as T spiralis var pallida drawing fide; Orchids of Australia Nicholls 1969 as T spiralis var punctata drawing fide; Orchids of Australia Nicholls 1969 as T spiralis var scoulerae drawing fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 6 321 - 384 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1975 drawing fide; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 photo good; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 No 12 2007 photo fide;
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