Microtis media is a herbaceous plant of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Orchidaceae

Orchidaceae

The Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the orchid family, is a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots in the order Asparagales. Along with the Asteraceae, it is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species,...

. It is found in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, and informally known as the Tall - or Common - Mignonette Orchid or Middle-sized Microtis.

Description

This member of Microtis

Microtis

Microtis is a small genus in the orchid family Orchidaceae.- Description :These orchids occur from South China to Japan, Australia , New Zealand and the south west Pacific, in grassland and scrub....

(Onion Orchids) occurs in southern regions of Western Australia, throughout the Southwest Botanical Province and the inland Coolgardie region.

They are deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

, chlorophyllous, sympodial

Sympodial

Sympodial means "with conjoined feet", and in biology is often used to refer to the outward morphology or mode of growth of organisms.-In botany:...

, tuberoid terrestrial orchids with a single, cylindrical leaf that encloses the stem.

The tiny flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s are green, arranged spiral in a spike or raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

 around the erect and tall central stalk, and appear between September and January. The lowermost flowers are close the exit of the stalk from the sheating leaf. The dorsal sepal

Sepal

A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...

 is sharp-pointed and forms a hood over the column

Column (botany)

The column, or technically the gynostemium, is a reproductive structure that can be found in several plant families: Aristolochiaceae, Orchidaceae, and Stylidiaceae....

. The lateral sepals are oblong and sometimes recurved. The dorsal sepal often keeps the oblong petal

Petal

Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

s out of sight. The lip

Labellum

Labellum is the Latin diminutive of labium, meaning lip. These are anatomical terms used descriptively in biology, for example in Entomology and botany.-Botany:...

 is ovate-oblong with united basal calli. The lobed lip has a rough, irregular margin.

The species was first described by Robert Brown

Robert Brown (botanist)

Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...

 in 1810, from a specimen collected at King George Sound

King George Sound

King George Sound is the name of a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Located at , it is the site of the city of Albany.The sound covers an area of and varies in depth from to ....

 in 1801. The plant was featured in Curtis's Botanical Magazine

Curtis's Botanical Magazine

The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed, is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name Curtis's Botanical Magazine....

 in 1825, where it was given the common name Middle-sized Microtis. According to Allan Cunningham

Allan Cunningham (botanist)

Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...

 it appeared from a sod of earth containing a Cephalotus

Cephalotus

Cephalotus is a genus which contains one species, Cephalotus follicularis, a small carnivorous pitcher plant. The pit-fall traps of the modified leaves have inspired the common names for this plant, which include Albany Pitcher Plant, Western Australian Pitcher Plant, fly-catcher plant or...

, collected by Phillip Parker King from same location, and flowered to provide the source of the illustration

Botanical illustration

Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, colour, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolour paintings. These are often printed with a botanical description in book, magazines, and other media...

 by Franz Bauer

Franz Bauer

Franz Andreas Bauer was an Austrian microscopist and botanical artist.Born in Feldsberg, Moravia , he was the son of Lucas Bauer , court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein, and brother of the painters Josef Anton and Ferdinand Bauer...

. The description was "Whole plant, in general aspect, very much resembling the M. parviflora represented in our last plate, but more than twice the size. The flowers too are extremely similar, and the chief difference is to be found in the lip, which is here larger in proportion to the rest of the flower, and it is singularly wedge-shaped, truncated, and obtuse, even retuse at the extremity :–the disk being moreover furnished with two oblong, warty callosities, and the margin of the lower half and apex, with several globose, tuberculated processes".
Two subspecies are currently recognised: M. media subsp. media and M. media subsp. densiflora.