Spiculaea

Spiculaea is a genus of plants defined by a single species, Spiculaea ciliata, commonly known as elbow orchid, and allied to the family Orchidaceae. Endemic to the south-west of Western Australia, the species is unusual in a number of respects; it grows in shallow soil on granite rock outcrops, grows and flowers in the hottest months of the year and has a unique method of using thynnid wasps as pollinators.

==Description== Spiculaea ciliata is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herb with a few inconspicuous, fine roots and an oval-shaped tuber lacking a protective sheath. The tuber produces a replacement tuber and daughter tubers on the end of short, root-like stolons. There is a single stalked leaf about long, wide at the base of the plant and purplish on the lower surface. The leaf is fully developed before the first flowers appear but withers before the first flowers open in late October.