Two flowering stems were standing among so many Salmon Sun Orchids, Thelymitra rubra, when Keith McLean stumbled across the striking flowers of the Crested Sun Orchid, T. x irregularis.
Crested Sun Orchid
This extremely rare species – a natural hybrid between Spotted Sun Orchid, T. ixioides or Rush-leaf Sun Orchid, T. juncifolia, and Pink Sun Orchid, T. carnea or T. rubra, shows characteristics of both parent species. The petals and sepals, which usually have darker spots, can vary in shades of pink, but the column is always pink with a small yellow hood and the column arms end in yellow hair tufts.
It is indeed a beautiful sun orchid.
Margaret MacDonald and Alison Watson