Microtis unifolia ( G.Forst. ) Rchb.f. 1871 Photo courtesy of Cathy Powers and her AUSTRALIAN TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS OTHER FLORA & FAUNA BANJORAH Website

Common Name The Single Leafed Microtis - Common Onion Orchid

Flower Size 1/8" [.3 cm]

Found in Java to New Caledonia, Lord Howe Island, New Zealand and Western Australia at elevations of 1500 to 2800 meters in montane grasslands with annual fires in the dry season as a medium sized, cold to cool growing terrestrial occuring in grassland and grassy areas in open forest, heathy forest and woodland with small, globose tubers giving rise to a single, terete, elongate, hollow [onion-like], basally sheathed leaf that blooms in the spring and summer on an erect, 9" [22.5 cm] long, several to amny [30] flowered inflorescence with flowers that only open on sunny days hence the common name of "Sun Orchid".

Synonyms Epipactis porrifolia Sw. 1800; Microtis aemula Schltr. 1906; Microtis banksii A.Cunn. ex Hook. 1835; Microtis formosana Schltr. ex Masam 1964; Microtis frutetorum Schltdl. 1847; Microtis longifolia Colenso 1885; Microtis papillosa Colenso 1885 publ. 1886; Microtis porrifolia (Sw.) R.Br. 1810; Microtis pulchella Lindl. 1840; Microtis viridis F.Muell. 1865; *Ophrys unifolia G.Forst. 1786

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchidiana Philipiniana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984; Orchids of Vanuatu Lewis & Cribb 1989; Native Orchids of New Caledonia Societe' Neo-Caledonienne D' Orchidophile 1995; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------