Caladenia fitzgeraldii
RuppFlowering plant 10–30 cm tall. Leaf 6–12 cm long, 5–12 mm wide Flowers 1 or 2, with a strong burnt-plastic scent; perianth segments 2–4(–6) cm long, greenish cream to yellowish, sometimes with red median stripe and/or reddish suffusions; sepals 2–4 mm wide at base, tapered to filiform, narrowly clubbed tails, club 5–15 mm long, with dark-coloured, sessile glands which are mostly tightly packed and contiguous; lateral sepals divergent, spreading to deflexed; petals spreading to deflexed, shorter than sepals, flattened at base, tapered to long acuminate apex, sometimes with small, glandular, clubbed section shortly below tip. Labellum curved forward with apex recurved, lamina ovate or broadly ovate-lanceolate, unlobed, 10–13 mm long and 7–9 mm wide (when flattened), glossy red distally and along centre to the pale yellowish-green base; lamina calli in 4 or 6 rows, not reaching or shortly exceeding the bend, linear or foot-shaped, to 1.5 mm long at base of lamina, decreasing in size towards apex. Flowers Sep.–Jan.
EGL, HNF, VAlp. Also NSW, ACT. Localised to higher montane areas of eastern Victoria where it grows among shrubs on slopes and ridges in woodland on well-drained soils.
Caladenia fitzgeraldii is similar to, and could be confused with, a few other eastern species; see C. montana, C. peisleyi and C. australis. The labellum of C. fitzgeraldii is unlobed, whereas that of C. montana is obscurely trilobed.
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.
SpinningKosky, W. (2021). East Gippsland’s Clubbed Spider Caladenia (Orchidaceae: Caladeniinae). Muelleria 40: 3–30.
