Early Identifications
One of the first botanists to study Western Australia was Archibald Menzies, aboard HMS Discovery, who explored King George Sound in 1791. Many of the samples (including orchids) were lost in the return to England, but those that did survive were documented in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen, published by Robert Brown in 1810.
The first three orchids from Western Australia to be named were Caladenia menziesii (named after Menzies), Caladenia flava, and Diuris longifolia.
In 1802 Robert Brown himself collected 500 specimens of flora from Western Australia, including:
- Diuris emarginata var. emarginata
- Diuris emarginata var. pauciflora
- Diuris setacea
- Epiblima grandiflorum
- Microtis alba
- Microtis media
- Microtis pulchella
- Prasophyllum gibossum
- Prasophyllum macrostachyum
- Thelymitra canaliculata
- Thelymitra tigrina
- Thelymitra fuscolutea
In West Australian Orchids (1930), Emily Pelloe described and illustrated an extensive survey. She provided an English text, paintings, and drawings for the amateur reader, a mixture of impression and scientific illustration of the genera.
Read more about this topic: Orchids Of Western Australia
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