Leporella fimbriata
(Lindl.) A.S.George Fringed Hare-orchidFlowering plant 8–24 cm tall. Leaf ovate, oblong or broadly lanceolate, often small at flowering time, up to 4 cm long and 15 mm wide when fully developed, usually bluish-green with 3–5 prominent reddish longitudinal veins. Flowers 1–2(–3), long-lived, reddish or yellowish-brown, pedicel (excluding ovary) 4–10 mm long, slender; dorsal sepal elliptic-ovate, incurved, acute, concave, 8–10 mm long; lateral sepals about same length, oblong-linear, pointed; petals pointed, linear, clubbed, clubbed-part very glandular, 10–12 mm long. Labellum c. 5 mm long, c. 10 mm wide, greenish, with reddish-brown pubescent spots, hinged, bent forward, lateral lobes slightly inflated. Flowers Mar.–Aug.
LoM, Wim, GleP, VVP, GipP, OtP, CVU, GGr, DunT, EGU, HSF, OtR. Also WA, SA, Tas. Scattered on sandy soils in heathland or low open-forests in south-western Victoria including the Anglesea area and outer Melbourne suburbs (where now much reduced through urban development).
Pollinated by male flying ants attempting copulation with the labellum.
Entwisle, T.J. (1994). Orchidaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 740–901. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
