Chiloglottis trullata
Chiloglottis trullata, commonly known as the triangular ant orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to Queensland, Australia. It has two dark green leaves and a single small, green or pinkish flower with a shiny, dark reddish black, insect-like callus surrounded by reddish club-shaped calli covering most of the upper surface of the labellum.
Description
Chiloglottis trullata is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with two ground-hugging, dark green, oblong to elliptic leaves long and wide on a petiole long. A single green or pinkish flower long and wide is borne on a flowering stem high. The dorsal sepal is spatula-shaped, long and about wide. The lateral sepals are linear, long, about wide and curve downwards and away from each other. There is a glandular tip about long on the end of all three sepals. The petals are linear to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long, about wide and turn downwards towards the ovary. The labellum is broadly trowel-shaped, long and wide. There is a shiny, dark reddish black, insect-like callus with a handlebar-shaped, stalked "head" end about long and wide. The callus and associated glands occupy most of the upper surface of the labellum. The column is pale green with a few purple spots, long and about wide with narrow wings. Flowering occurs in July and August.
Chiloglottis trullata was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones from a specimen collected in the Blackdown Tableland National Park and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "trowel", referring to the shape of the labellum.
Distribution and habitat
The triangular ant orchid grows near sandstone boulder in tall forest on the Blackdown Tableland.