Caladenia exilis is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single erect, linear leaf and up to three white to greenish-cream or dark pinkish-maroon flowers.
Caladenia exilis is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herb with a single, erect, linear leaf 40–100 mm (1.6–3.9 in) long and 4–7 mm (0.16–0.28 in) wide. The plant is 60–250 mm (2.4–9.8 in) high with up to three white to greenish-cream or dark pinkish maroon flowers, with two rows of red to cream-coloured calli along the mid-line of the labellum. The flowers are 60–150 mm (2.4–5.9 in) long and 40–60 mm (1.6–2.4 in) wide.[2][3][4]
Caladenia exilis was first formally described in 2001 by Stephen Hopper and Andrew Phillip Brown in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected near Nyabing by Robert Bates in 1990.[5] The specific epithet (exilis) means "slender", "alluding to the slender labellum, petals and sepals".[4]
In the same journal Hopper and Andrew Brown described two subspecies of C. exilis, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
Subspecies exilis grows near salt lakes between Mullewa and Woodanilling in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Mallee bioregions.[4][8] Subspecies vanleeuwenii grows in winter-wet depressions in salmon gum and york gum woodland, or on granite outcrops, north and south of Moora in the Avon Wheatbelt and Jarrah Forest bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[4][9]
Caladenia exilis is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single erect, linear leaf and up to three white to greenish-cream or dark pinkish-maroon flowers.