Thelymitra antennifera
(Lindl.) Hook.f. Rabbit-earsFlowering stem erect, often flexuose, 10–30 cm tall, c. 2 mm diam., green. Leaf linear-attenuate to terete, 5–19 cm long, 1–4 mm wide, deeply channelled to conduplicate or inrolled distally, green. Inflorescence (1–)2(–3)-flowered. Sterile bracts 2. Flowers sweet-scented; perianth segments lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate, 12–20 mm long, yellow; sepals reddish-brown striped on outer surface. Column ovoid-cylindric, 5–6 mm long, green-yellow below; mid-lobe absent; lateral lobes suberect, diverging from one another, prominently stalked, spathulate, usually emarginate to bilobed, 1.5–2 mm long, c 1.5 mm wide, dark or red-brown. Anther with large, yellow, ovoid apex, minutely papillose, protruding horizontally below lateral lobes of column. Flowers Sep.–Oct.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, WPro, HSF, OtR, Strz. Also WA, SA, Tas. Common, often in colonies, in a wide range of habitats, from grassland to woodlands, in dry or wettish sites from sea-level to c. 400 m altitude, occurring on sandy loams or shallow, rocky soils.
Forms hybrids with Thelymitra carnea, T. rubra or members of the T. nuda/pauciflora complex (all have been included in T. ×macmillanii).
Weber, J.Z.; Entwisle, T.J. (1994). Thelymitra. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 840–854. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
