Caladenia magnifica (Nicholls) D.L.Jones & G.W.Carr (1989:27)
Magnificent spider orchid
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonyms: Caladenia patersonii var. magnifica Nicholls in Vict. Naturalist 52: 167 (1936); Arachnorchis magnifica (Nicholls) D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. in Orchadian 13: 395 (2001); Calonema magnificum (Nicholls) Szlach. in Polish Bot. J. 46: 18 (2001); Calonemorchis magnifica (Nicholls) Szlach. in Polish Bot. J. 46: 141 (2001)
"Currently considered a valid taxon, but more work required to elucidate species in this complex, including C. grampiana and C. oenochila"
(Silcock et al., 2019:SM:1)
Conservation Status
Missing (Backhouse et al., 2016:10) or Extinct (Backhouse & Cameron, 2005:63; DEPI, 2014; Albani Rocchetti et al., 2022; VicFlora, 2025]), but taxonomically suspect (Silcock et al., 2019:SM:1)
Last record: 1979 (VicFlora, 2025); 1992 (Silcock et al., 2019:SM:1)
Distribution & Habitat
Clydesdale district, central Victoria, Australia
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Albani Rocchetti, Giulia, Carta, Angelino, Mondoni, Andrea, Godefroid, Sandrine, Davis, Charles C., Caneva, Giulia, Albrecht, Matthew A., Alvarado, Karla, Bijmoer, Roxali, Borosova, Renata, Bräuchler, Christian, Breman, Elinor, Briggs, Marie, Buord, Stephane, Cave, Lynette H., Da Silva, Nílber Gonçalves, Davey, Alexandra H., Davies, Rachael M., Dickie, John B., Fabillo, Melodina, Fleischmann, Andreas, Franks, Andrew, Hall, Geoffrey, Kantvilas, Gintaras, Klak, Cornelia, Liu, Udayangani, Medina, Leopoldo, Reinhammar, Lars Gunnar, Sebola, Ramagwai J., Schönberger, Ines, Sweeney, Patrick, Voglmayr, Hermann, White, Adam, Wieringa, Jan J., Zippel, Elke Zippel and Abeli, Thomas. (2022). Selecting the best candidates for resurrecting extinct-in-the-wild plants from herbaria. Nature Plants 8: 1385-1393. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01296-7 [Supplementary Tables S1-S6]
Backhouse, Gary N., Bates, Robert J., Brown, Andrew P. and Copeland, Lachlan M. (2016). Checklist of the Orchids of Australia Including its Island Territories. Version 1. Unpublished. 139 pp.
Backhouse, Gary N., Bates, Robert J., Brown, Andrew P. and Copeland, Lachlan M. (2019). Checklist of the Orchids of Australia Including its Island Territories, second edition. Melbourne. 148 pp.
Backhouse, Gary and Cameron, David. (2005). Application of IUCN 2001 Red List Categories in Determining the Conservation Status of Native Orchids of Victoria, Australia. Selbyana 26(1-2), Proceedings of the Second International Orchid Conservation Congress (2005), pp. 58-74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41760174
Clements, Mark Alwyn (1989). Catalogue of Australian Orchidaceae. Australian Orchid Research. 1: 27.
DEECA [Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action]. (2023). Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 Threatened List: June 2023. Published report by The State of Victoria Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Melbourne, Victoria.
DEPI (Department of Environment and Primary Industries). (2014). Advisory list of rare of threatened plants in Victoria - 2014. Melbourne, VIC: Department of Environment and Primary Industries.
Entwisle, T. J. (1994). Orchidaceae, pp. 740-901. In: Walsh, N. G. and Entwisle, T. J. (eds.). Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons. Melbourne, VIC: Inkata Press.
Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Monocotyledons Database in ACCESS: 1-71827. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Jones, David L. (2006). A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories. Frenchs Forest, NSW: New Holland. [p. 57]
Nicholls, William Henry (1936). Orchid Notes: Two new varieties. The Victorian Naturalist. 52: 167.
POWO. (2025). Plants of the World Online (online resource). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 2 August 2025]
Silcock, Jen L., Field, Ashley R., Walsh, Neville G. and Fensham, Roderick J. (2019). To name those lost: assessing extinction likelihood in the Australian vascular flora. Oryx 54(2): 167-177. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318001357 [Supplementary Material]
VicFlora. (2025). Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Available online: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au [accessed on 2 August 2025]
Woinarski, John C. Z., Braby, M. F., Burbidge, A. A., Coates, D., Garnett, S. T., Fensham, R. J., Legge, S. M., McKenzie, N. L., Silcock, J L. and Murphy, B. P. (2019). Reading the black book: The number, timing, distribution and causes of listed extinctions in Australia. Biological Conservation 239: 108261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108261
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caladenia_magnifica