Caladenia parva

Caladenia parva is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single leaf and one or two green flowers with red stripes along the sepals and petals.

Description
Caladenia parva is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single leaf, 30-100 mm long, 5-10 mm wide and which often has red spots near its base. One or two greenish flowers with red stripes are borne on a spike 50-150 mm tall. The sepals have thick, brown, club-like glandular tips 3-6 mm long. The dorsal sepal curves forward and is 25-35 mm long and about 2 mm wide. The lateral sepals are 25-35 mm long, about 3 mm wide and are parallel to or sometimes cross over each other. The petals are 20-26 mm long, 1-2 mm wide and curve downwards. The labellum is greenish with a white central region a dark red tip which curls under. It is 11-14 mm long and 10-12 mm wide and has thin green teeth up to 3 mm on the sides. There are four rows of reddish-black calli up to 2 mm long in the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs in September and October.

Taxonomy and naming
Caladenia parva was first formally described in 1991 by Geoffrey Carr from a specimen collected in the Dergholm State Park. The description was published in Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association Miscellaneous Paper 1. The specific epithet (parva) is a Latin word meaning "little".

Distribution and habitat
The small spider orchid occurs in scattered locations across southern Victoria and the far south-eastern corner of South Australia where it grows woodland and coastal scrub.

Conservation
Caladenia parva is not listed under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.