''Drakaea elastica'', commonly known as glossy-leaved hammer orchid or praying virgin is a species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the south–west of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It is similar to other hammer orchids in that it is pollinated by a single species of male

thynnid The Thynnidae (also known as thynnid wasps or flower wasps) are a family (biology), family of large, solitary wasps whose larvae are almost universally parasitoids of various beetle larvae, especially those in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea. Until ...

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

using sexual deception. The orchid's labellum is similar in shape and scent to a flightless female thynnid wasp. The glossy-leaved hammer orchid was the first in the genus to be described. The species is only known from the far south-west of the state and has been declared "endangered" by both the Australian government and the government of Western Australia.

Description

''Drakaea elastica'' is similar to others in the genus in that it has a single, ground hugging leaf and an underground tuber. In this case, the leaf is heart shaped, about in diameter, glabrous, light green and glossy. The leaf veins are slightly darker in colour. Leaves appear in July or August but by the time the flower has opened, the leaf is often withered. The stem is long and the stalk of the single flower is long. Its flower is also similar to those of other hammer orchids in that the labellum resembles a flightless female thynnid wasp, in this case '' Zaspilothynnus gilesi''. It can be distinguished from other species by its lack of a spine on the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

. The flowers of ''

Drakaea glyptodon ''Drakaea glyptodon'', commonly known as king in his carriage is a species of orchid endemic to the south–west of Western Australia. It is pollinated by a single species of male thynnid wasp using sexual deception. The orchid's labellum is s ...

'' and ''

Drakaea concolor ''Drakaea concolor'', commonly known as the kneeling hammer orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the south–west of Western Australia. The species is only known from a few areas in the far west of the state and has been declared "vulnerab ...

'' also lack a spine but can be distinguished from this species by having a dark green leaf ('' D. concolor'') or distinct veins in the leaf ('' D. glyptodon''). The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

at the back of the flower is long and the two at the sides are . The petals are also long. The insect-like labellum has a "head" about half as long as the "body" and is light coloured and hairy for most of it length. The rest of the labellum (representing the female "body" of the insect) is light green on the upper half, with a few scattered dark spots while the lower half is dark maroon. Flowers appear from late September to early November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Drakaea elastica'' was first formally described by

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

in 1840 in ''

A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony", also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Sketch Veg. Swan R.'', is an 1839 article by John Lindley on the flora of the Swan River Colony. Nearly 300 new species were published in it, ...

''. Since then the name has been misapplied to other hammer orchids, including the more common one known as warty hammer orchid ('' Drakaea livida''). The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''elastica'') is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

word ''elastikos'' meaning "elastic".

Distribution and habitat

The glossy-leaved hammer orchid is only known from the Cataby and

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

districts in the

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

biogeographic zone. It grows in deep sand in

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

in low-lying areas near temporary swamps.

Conservation

''Drakaea elastica'' is known from 42 locations but most of these contain fewer than 15 plants and only one contains half of the known individual plants. The Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife classifies the species as "threatened" meaning that it is considered likely to become extinct, or rare and in need of special protection. The Australian Government lists its status under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act as "vulnerable". The main threats to the species' survival include weed invasion, recurrent fire, dieback disease, rubbish dumping and illegal vehicle usage.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15458800 elastica Orchids of Western Australia Endemic orchids of Australia Plants described in 1840 Endemic flora of Western Australia