Citation: R. Rogers, Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 31:210, t. 26 (1907).

Synonymy: Arachnorchis gladiolata, Calonema gladiolatum, Calonemorchis gladiolata

Common name: Bayonet caladenia.

Description:
Stem hairy, stunted and 8-20 cm long, or slender and long-stemmed to 30 cm high; leaf hairy, varying in shape and size from oblong-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate.

Flower single, rarely 2, greenish-yellow with red markings and with a powerful musky-spicy odour; perianth-segments of stunted specimens 15-20 mm long, terminating in glandular filaments one-third of their length and c. 1 mm wide; perianth-segments of long-stemmed specimens to 30 mm long, one-half of which being the glandulose filaments 0.6-3 mm wide; sepals and petals subequal, widened basal part traversed by a longitudinal red line; distal part thickened, bayonet-shaped, with reddish-brown glands, separated from basal part by a constriction; dorsal sepal erect, incurved or retracted; lateral sepals spreading, flattened except at their extremities; petals four-fifths of the length of the sepals, linear-lanceolate, spreading; labellum of stunted specimens ovate, c. 9 mm long, on a movable claw, undivided, yellowish-green with a maroon recurved tip, margins practically entire, at first erect against the column, then recurved from about the middle; lamina without conspicuous veins; calli large, fleshy, pyriform, a dark reddish-brown, in 4 crowded rows and not extending to the tip (on long-stemmed specimens the maroon recurved tip extended, producing a 3-lobed labellum; calli less crowded, widely separated into 2 double rows); column c. 8 mm long, much incurved, with 2 yellow sessile calli at the base, widely winged in its upper part; wings tapering towards the base.

Published illustration: Fiveash (1974) Australian orchids, pl. 71, left.

Distribution:  It is likely that this species was widespread in fertile grasslands before settlement but it is now rare and known from only 3 or 4 localities. S.Aust.: FR, NL, SL. Conservation status: native Flowering time: July — Sept.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: Closely resembles C. toxochila, which has filiform tips to the perianth-segments. Putative hybrids have been reported with C. dilatata (FR) and C. patersonii (FR).

Author: Not yet available