{"id":18910,"date":"2017-12-14T02:11:50","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T18:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/blooming-good-bush-walk-leads-new-orchid-species-discovery\/"},"modified":"2022-12-06T09:20:47","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T01:20:47","slug":"blooming-good-bush-walk-leads-new-orchid-species-discovery","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/blooming-good-bush-walk-leads-new-orchid-species-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018blooming\u2019 good bush walk leads to new orchid species discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two new and previously unknown \u2018fairy\u2019 orchids have been discovered by Â鶹ֱ²¥\u2019s eminent botanist Professor Kingsley Dixon and Kew Garden scientist and Curtin Adjunct Lecturer, Dr Maarten Christenhuez, adding proof that south west Western Australia is truly a global biodiversity hotspot.<\/p>\n

Professor Dixon explained he discovered the new orchids while out on a bush walk near Lane Poole Reserve in the Darling Ranges, south of Dwellingup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile walking I kept seeing what I thought were just mutants of the usual yellow cowslip orchid.\u00a0 But after a few hours, all I kept seeing were these gorgeous rose-pink and white orchids everywhere until I sat and thought that these just had to be something different,\u201d Professor Dixon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the orchids were saying \u2013 hey, I\u2019m undiscovered, check me out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Caladenia lateritica orchid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe two new species are rare and were discovered in an area that is largely inaccessible which might explain how they have eluded discovery \u2013 up until now of course,\u201d Professor Dixon said.<\/p>\n

The orchids are yet to receive common names, but one has been given the scientific names of Caladenia lateritica<\/em>, referring to the laterite rocks where the orchid grows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second species\u2019 scientific name is Caladenia rosea<\/em> since it has distinctive rose-pink flowers,\u201d Professor Dixon said.<\/p>\n

Professor Dixon also explained that each species mimics a common wildflower species.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Caladenia lateritica<\/em> is similar to the Conostylis setosa<\/em>, known as a \u2018white cotton tail,\u2019 similar to kangaroo paws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pink Caladenia rosea<\/em> looks like the stunning beautiful Swan River Myrtle, or the Hypocalymma robustum<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo complete the picture, both species have a delightful scent. Unlike their common scentless cousin, the yellow cowslip orchid,\u201d Professor Dixon said.<\/p>\n

As the orchids were found in a rare restricted area, Professor Dixon stressed the importance of conservation of land areas where the species was found to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cConserving these new species represents a challenge as the area it was found to be growing can often be subject to forest clearing, with many similarly high-plateau areas likely to have already been cleared.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith discoveries like this, I hope that the Lane Poole Nature Reserve will be finally protected from any further clearing and loss of these magnificent forests \u2013 and who knows how many other species are yet to be found.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two new and previously unknown \u2018fairy\u2019 orchids have been discovered by Â鶹ֱ²¥\u2019s eminent botanist Professor Kingsley Dixon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":10896,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-18910","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":"","photographer":{"title":"Professor Kingsley Dixon","url":"#","target":""},"media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Caladenia-rosea-pink-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Â鶹ֱ²¥"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/18910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/18910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18910"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=18910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}