Annnddd... Tbelymitra
 

I'm still waiting for my blue Thelymitras. But here are two nice red ones.

Thelymitra rubra comes from eastern and southern Australia, and Tasmania.

Thelymitra x macmillanii is a natural hybrid of Thel. antennifera x Thel. nuda. It is found in south Australia to southwestern Victoria, Australia.

Thelymitra is nicknamed "sun orchid" - they only open in bright sunshine. With clouds, they close up and wait for the next sunny day.

Beautiful!

Such a pretty flower! Orchids are amazing in that there is so much variety. :)

Wow, that's gorgeous! I'm puzzled by the structure of the flower, though. It seems to violate the "rule" of 3 sepals, two petals and a lip. Granted, there is no such thing as a hard and fast rule where evolution is concerned, but I'm wondering if you know more about this.

The lip is just not as distinctly different from the other segments in Thelymitra as with most orchids, it still acts like a lip. I don't know much about the structure of the flower, though. Diuris is also weird. In fact, some other genera of the Australian terrestrials are also a puzzle as to which part is which.

I found this article, that sheds some light on the subject.
https://austplants.com.au/resources/...lk%20notes.pdf

It still has the same components but has lost the unique orchid labellum in order to imitate a simpler flower. Orchids use deception a lot, usually to get out of having to produce nectar.

Note that Diuris is even stranger... the "donkey ears" are petals, what look like petals are side lobes of the lip, the lateral sepals are narrow "ribbons" and the dorsal sepal is a little hood.

I also saw Diuris mentioned in a paper about deception. They suggested it imitates legume morphology. Makes sense when you look at it!