Thelymitra lucida
JeanesFlowering stem erect, straight, 30–55 cm tall, 1–3.5 mm diam., green to purplish. Leaf linear to linear-lanceolate, attenuate, 20–35 cm long, 5–12 mm wide, fleshy, canaliculate, ribbed abaxially, sheathing at base, dark green with a purplish base. Inflorescence 1–7-flowered, open. Sterile bracts usually 2, sometimes 3. Perianth segments lanceolate to ovate, 8–12 mm long, dark blue. Column slender, 5–6 mm long, blue to pinkish; mid-lobe expanded into hood over the anther, tubular, compressed dorsally, gently curved, yellow with a dark purplish black collar, covered with a thin glistening bloom, apex deeply bilobed; lateral lobes converging 1–1.5 mm long, digitiform, porrect, more or less straight, each with a toothbrush-like arrangement of white or creamy yellow hairs terminating in front of mid-lobe. Anther inserted about mid-way along column, shortly beaked. Flowers Nov.–Dec.
GleP, VVP, CVU, GGr, DunT. Also SA, Tas. Grows in or near lowland sedge swamps on moist sandy or peaty soils, sometimes in standing water at flowering time.
Currently known only from near Digby, the Grampians and the Brisbane Ranges National Parks.
Flowers are self-pollinating and only open on warm, humid days.
Distinguished from Thelymitra holmesii by the sparkling bloom on the mid-lobe of the column and the less shaggy hair tufts on the lateral lobes.
