Chiloglottis valida
D.L.Jones Common Bird-orchidFlowering plant 4–7 cm tall (scape elongating to 10 cm or more after pollination). Leaves broadly elliptic, petiolate, 30–50(–100) mm long, 10–40 mm wide, dark green above, paler beneath, margin entire. Flower greenish-purple to purplish-brown; dorsal sepal erect, incurved, broadly obovate-spathulate, 19–30 mm long; lateral sepals porrect in basal half then recurved, divergent or parallel, broadest near the base then tapered to apex, 16–25 mm long; petals incurved or slightly divergent, asymmetrically ovate-lanceolate, 16–23 mm long. Labellum on short claw, broadly ovate-cordate, 13–19 mm long; calli reddish to blackish, in central, proximal two-thirds of lamina; main central gland stalked, erect and curved forwards, flanked by 1–3 (rarely 4) pairs of calli (sometimes all absent), the basal ones stalked, others sessile, apical gland sessile. Column widely winged in upper half, wing as long or longer than anther. Flowers Oct.–Feb.
Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz, MonT, VAlp. Also NSW, ACT. Widespread and locally common in moist forests of cooler areas of the state from near sea-level to beyond the snowline (e.g. Bogong High Plains), but apparently much less common in the far west.
Victorian plants previously known as Chiloglottis gunnii are now referable to C. valida. Chiloglottis gunnii is a smaller flowered species now regarded as a Tasmanian endemic.
Hybridises with C. trapeziformis to produce the named hybrid C. ×pescottiana.
Apparent hybrids with C. cornuta occur where the two species are sympatric.
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
