Canberra Spider Orchid (Caladenia actensis)
Description
- The Canberra Spider Orchid is a perennial plant that lives underground as a tuber during summer and autumn.
- It stays dormant until there's enough rain in late autumn or early winter to activate it to begin growing.
- The orchid relies on a soil (mycorrhizal) fungus to help germinate its seeds and for nutrient supply throughout its life.
- It grows 40-90 mm tall as a single plant or in small groups.
- It has a dense, dull green, hairy leaf with a purple-blotched base.
- The flowers can grow 12-20 mm in diameter.
- The base of the flower is slightly green and is heavily marked with red-crimson lines.
- Flower buds appear in late winter or early spring, and bloom from late September to mid-October.
- The flowers look like female Thynnine Wasps to attract male wasps, who then transfer the pollen to other orchid flowers.
- Plants may not flower in years where there is insufficient rain or unsuitable winter temperatures.
Find out more about the Canberra Spider Orchid on Canberra NatureMapr.
Where you can find it
There are small populations across different sites in the northeast of the ACT and nearby NSW.
Conservation threats
The Canberra Spider Orchid's is under threat from:
- urban development and farming
- reduced genetic diversity and a short flowering period
- small populations divided over wide areas
- dependence on a single sub-family of wasps for pollination
- climate change, bushfires, and disease
- animal trampling and grazing.
Conservation status
- National – Critically endangered (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999).
- Australian Capital Territory – Critically endangered (Nature Conservation Act 2014), Special Protection Status Species (Nature Conservation Act 2014).
Conservation actions
Conservation actions aim to:
- protect the orchid sites in the ACT
- manage its habitat so it can evolve naturally in the wild
- manage nearby woodlands to increase habitat area and connect populations
- expand the species locations by finding suitable places to translocate to
- research and monitor the species' ecology, habitat, and threats
- encourage the community to help conserve the species.