Spiculaea

{{Short description|Genus of orchids}} {{Italic title}} {{Speciesbox | name = Elbow orchid | image = Spiculaea ciliata - Flickr. 003 cropped.jpg | image_caption = On [[Boyagin Rock]] | display_parents = 4 | genus = Spiculaea | parent_authority = [[John Lindley|Lindl.]] | species = ciliata | authority = [[John Lindley|Lindl.]]<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Spiculaea ciliata'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/85900|publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=22 October 2025}}</ref> | synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" /> | synonyms = ''Drakaea ciliata'' <small>(Lindl.) [[Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach|Rchb.f.]]</small> }}

'''''Spiculaea''''' is a genus of plants defined by a single species, '''''Spiculaea ciliata''''', commonly known as '''elbow orchid''',<ref name="A.P.Brown">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Andrew |last2=Dixon |first2=Kingsley |last3=French |first3=Christopher |last4=Brockman |first4=Garry |title=Field guide to the orchids of Western Australia : the definitive guide to the native orchids of Western Australia |date=2013 |publisher=Simon Nevill Publications |isbn=9780980348149 |pages=410–411}}</ref> and allied to the [[Family (taxonomy)|family]] [[Orchidaceae]]. Endemic to the south-west of [[Western Australia]], the species is unusual in a number of respects; it grows in shallow soil on [[Granite outcrops of Western Australia|granite rock outcrop]]s, grows and flowers in the hottest months of the year and has a unique method of using thynnid wasps as pollinators.

==Description== ''Spiculaea ciliata'' is a terrestrial, [[Perennial plant|perennial]], [[deciduous]], [[sympodial]] [[Herbaceous plant|herb]] with a few inconspicuous, fine roots and an oval-shaped [[tuber]] lacking a protective [[Tunica (biology)|sheath]]. The tuber produces a replacement tuber and daughter tubers on the end of short, root-like [[stolon]]s. There is a single stalked leaf about {{convert|2|cm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|1|cm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide at the base of the plant and purplish on the lower surface. The leaf is fully developed before the first flowers appear but withers before the first flowers open in late October.<ref name="Hoffman">{{cite book|last1=Hoffman|first1=Noel|last2=Brown|first2=Andrew|title=Orchids of South-West Australia|date=2011|publisher=Noel Hoffman|location=Gooseberry Hill|isbn=9780646562322|pages=216–218|edition=3rd}}</ref><ref name=FloraBase>{{FloraBase|name=''Spiculaea''|id=21297}}</ref><ref name="Orchids">{{cite book|editor1=Alec Pridgeon M.|editor2=Phillip J. Cribb|editor3=Mark W. Chase|editor4=Finn Rasmussen|title=Genera Orchidacearum, Volume 2, Orchidoideae (part 1)|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|isbn=0198507100|pages=152–155}}</ref>

There are up to ten [[Resupination#Orchidaceae|resupinate]] flowers on the end of a wiry stem {{convert|10-18|cm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} high which is thickest near the top and which gradually withers from the base as the flowers mature. Each flower is straw-coloured, {{convert|20|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|10|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide on a short stalk. The [[wikt:dorsal|dorsal]] [[sepal]] curves over the top of the flower, with its side edges curved downwards. The two [[wikt:lateral|lateral]] sepals are shorter than the dorsal sepal and the two petals are narrower than both. The petals are sepals are separate from each other. As is usual in orchids, one [[petal]] is highly modified as the central [[Labellum (botany)|labellum]]. The labellum is shaped like a wingless insect, and is attached to the base of the column by a flexible, hinge-like "claw". The labellum is much smaller than in other orchids and is rod-like, fleshy and has many club-shaped hairs. The sexual parts of the flower are fused to the [[Column (botany)|column]], which has wing-like structures on its sides. Flowering occurs from October to January and is followed by a fruit which is a non-fleshy, glabrous, [[Dehiscence (botany)|dehiscent]] [[Capsule (botany)|capsule]] containing a large number of seeds.<ref name="Hoffman" /><ref name="FloraBase" /><ref name="Orchids" />[[File:Spiculaea diagram.pdf|thumb|225px|Labelled image]]

==Taxonomy and naming== This orchid was first formally described in 1840 by [[John Lindley]], his description was published in ''[[A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony]]''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Spiculaea ciliata''|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/instance/apni/504947|publisher=APNI|accessdate=1 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="Lindl.">{{cite book|last1=Lindley|first1=John|title=A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony (Appendix)|date=1840|publisher=James Ridgway|location=Piccadilly, London|pages=53|url=https://archive.org/details/sketchvegetatio00goog|accessdate=1 July 2016}}</ref> In 1871 [[Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach|Heinrich Reichenbach]] assigned them to an extant genus, ''[[Drakaea]]'', publishing the combination ''Drakaea ciliata''.<ref name=APNI(1)>{{cite web|title=''Drakaea ciliata''|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/instance/apni/501366|publisher=APNI|accessdate=1 July 2016}}</ref> However, in a 1989 revision [[David Lloyd Jones (botanist)|David Jones]] and [[Mark Alwin Clements|Mark Clements]], separated this population from ''Drakaea'' and other orchid genera and this reinstated Lindley's original name.<ref name="Clements">{{cite journal|editor-last1=Jones |editor-first1=David L.|last1=Clements|first1=Mark A.|title=Catalogue of Australian Orchidaceae|journal=Australian Orchid Research|date=1989|volume=1|page=135}}</ref>

The origin of the genus name, ''"Spiculaea"'', is from the [[Latin]] word ''spiculum'' meaning "a sharp point" or "a sting", probably referring to the appendage at the tip of the labellum.<ref name="Sharr">{{cite book |author=Francis Aubie Sharr |author-link=Francis Aubie Sharr |title=Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, Western Australia |isbn=9780958034180}}</ref>{{rp|114}} The [[Botanical name|specific epithet]] ("ciliata") is from the [[Latin]] word meaning "eyelash" or "eyelid",<ref name="Sharr" />{{rp|390}} referring to the long hairs found on the sides of the labellum.<ref name="A.P.Brown" />

==Distribution and habitat== ''Spiculaea ciliata'' grows in shallow, sandy soil over [[granite]] between the [[Darling Scarp]], [[Paynes Find, Western Australia|Paynes Find]] and [[Mount Ney]] in the [[Avon Wheatbelt]], [[Coolgardie]], [[Esperance Plains]], [[Geraldton Sandplains]], [[Jarrah Forest]] and [[Mallee (biogeographic region)|Mallee]] [[IBRA|biogeographic regions]].<ref name="Hoffman" />

==Ecology== The flowers of elbow orchid have been described as "bizarre" and the production of flowers during the hottest months is unusual.<ref name="Orchids" /> One author described: "When most other plants dead or dying, this tiny orchid at its fascinating best. When everything else was brittle underfoot these are still succulent. A specimen continued to flower in my collection in the fridge after I got home, weeks later. ([[Philippa Nikulinsky|Nikulinsky]])"<ref name="Rocks">{{cite book|last1=Nikulinsky|first1=Philippa|last2=Hopper|first2=Stephen D.|title=Life on the rocks : the art of survival|date=2008|publisher=Fremantle Press|location=Fremantle (Australia)|isbn=9781921361289|page=92}}</ref>

''Spiculaea ciliata'' is thought to be pollinated by a male thynnid wasp of the genus ''[[Thynnoturneria]]'' which is initially attracted to the labellum of the orchid by a [[pheromone]], flying from downwind towards the flower. At rest, the labellum resembles a wingless female wasp, resting on a blade of grass. The insect picks up the dummy female and tries to fly off with it, rising into the column where the column wings hold the insect, and its abdomen comes into contact with the sexual parts of the flower.<ref name="Orchids" /><ref name="Cingel">{{cite book|last1=Cingel|first1=Nelis A. van der|title=An atlas of orchid pollination : America, Africa, Asia and Australia|date=2000|publisher=Balkema|location=Rotterdam|isbn=9054104864|page=208}}</ref>

==Conservation== The species is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government [[Department of Parks and Wildlife (Western Australia)|Department of Parks and Wildlife]].<ref name="FloraBase" />

==References== {{Reflist|1|refs= }}

==External links== * {{Commons-inline|Spiculaea|''Spiculaea''}}

[[Category:Monotypic Orchidoideae genera]] [[Category:Diurideae genera]] [[Category:Orchids of Australia]] [[Category:Flora of Western Australia]] [[Category:Drakaeinae]]