Fairy Orchid

Botanical name:Caladenia alata
Synonyms:Caladenia catenata var. exigua, Caladenia minor var. exigua, Caladenia exigua, Caladenia holmesii, Caladenia carnea var. alata, Caladenia carnea var. exigua, Petalochilus alatus
Common name(s): Fairy Orchid

About:
A small, early-flowering terrestrial orchid with delicate white, pink, pale mauve or reddish flowers. It is recognised by its slender wiry stem, single narrow leaf, cerise-barred labellum and distinctive orange or yellow curled-under labellum tip.

Natural habitat:
Open mānuka and kānuka scrub, gumland scrub, clay pans, rocky ridges, peat bog margins, geothermal ground and open lowland shrubland.

Growing environment:
Occurs in open, lightly vegetated sites with good light, low competition and often dry or skeletal soils. Plants usually flower early in spring and have often withered away by November.

Distribution:
Indigenous. In New Zealand found in the North Island from Te Paki to about Rotorua, with disjunct records south to Horowhenua. Also occurs in Australia.

Height:
Up to 100 mm tall

Width:
Small solitary orchid, usually only a few centimetres wide

Growth habit:
Terrestrial deciduous orchid, usually solitary but sometimes forming small loose colonies.

Foliage:
Single narrow linear leaf, dark green to reddish-green, sparsely hairy, up to 60 mm long and 3 mm wide.

Flowers:
Usually solitary, occasionally two, small and short-lived. Flowers are white, pink, pale mauve, reddish or sometimes faintly china-blue, with sharply acute tepals and a three-lobed labellum marked with cerise bars.

Flower colours:
Red/Pink, White

Flowering:
August – November

Fruiting:
October – January

Fruit:
Small dry orchid capsules containing minute wind-dispersed seed.

Ecology:
A biologically sparse orchid often occurring in scattered populations. Its small early flowers provide seasonal resources for specialised insect visitors, while its underground tuber allows it to survive dry periods and re-emerge in suitable conditions.

Uses:

• Native orchid collections
• Conservation plantings
• Specialist botanical displays
• Gumland and clay pan restoration
• Educational orchid interpretation
• Natural heritage gardens

Cultivation:
Difficult and should not be removed from the wild. Best conserved in place by protecting open scrub, gumland and clay pan habitats from disturbance, weed invasion and heavy shading.

Propagation:
Difficult in cultivation. Like many terrestrial orchids, it depends on specialised ecological conditions and likely fungal associations for successful germination and establishment.

Garden value:
Best appreciated as a protected wild orchid rather than a garden plant. Its delicate early flowers make it a beautiful feature of intact gumland scrub, open mānuka habitats and lowland orchid sites.