Thelymitra sanscilia
Sun Orchid

PLANT: Terrestrial tuberous herb.
A tall multi-flowered plant. Flower stems rusty red.

LEAVES: Single. Erect. Green with red near the base. Forms a wide V in cross section.

FLOWERS: Up to 15 flowers.
Blue in colour. Column white faintly flushed with mauve. Column midlobe olive-green to bronze-yellow or purplish-black. The top split from front to back, and edged with yellow or orange. Column arms sickle shaped and have few or no cilia.

FLOWERING TIME: September - October.

HABITAT: Lowland tea tree scrub on sunny tracksides.

CONSERVATION STATUS: Threatened - Nationally Critical.

NOTES: Similar to Thelymitra pauciflora but the column arms have very
few or no cilia. Previously regarded as an abnormal form of Thelymitra pauciflora.