Caladenia melanema

Caladenia melanema Hopper & A.P.Br.

Calonema melanemum; Calonemorchis melanema; Jonesiopsis melanema

Ballerina Orchid

Caladenia filamentosa (Wispy Spider Orchids)

Stephen Hopper & Andrew Brown in Nuytsia 14:248-249, Figs. 59I-O (2001)

Lake Grace to south of Pingrup, growing in sandy soils in Mallee woodlands and shrublands surrounding salt lakes.

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A rare orchid 80–100 mm high with a hairy leaf 40–120 mm long by 2–5 mm wide and up to two creamy-white to pale yellow flowers 40–60 mm across. The petals and sepals are covered with distinctive dark brown to black hemispherical hairs.

It is distinguished from the Chameleon Spider Orchid (Caladenia dimidia) with which it sometimes hybridises by its shorter petals and sepals with hemispherical rather than cylindrical glandular hairs.

Threatened (Critically Endangered)