Blue Fairy Orchid

Pheladenia deformis is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herb with a few inconspicuous, fine roots and a tuber partly surrounded by a fibrous sheath. The tuber produces two "droppers" which become daughter tubers in the following year. There is a single hairy convolute leaf at the base of the plant. The leaf is linear, 3–10 cm (1–4 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide with a few hairs, especially on the edges, about 1 mm (0.04 in) long. There is usually a single flower on a stem 5–15 cm (2–6 in) high. The three sepals and two lateral petals are 14–20 mm (0.6–0.8 in) long, 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. The outer surface usually has a few glandular hairs and the inner surface is bright blue, or sometimes white, pinkish or yellow. As is usual in orchids, one petal is highly modified as the central labellum. The labellum is dark blue near its tip, white near the base, 10–14 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) wide. The edge of the labellum is fringed and there are many stalked calli, giving rise to the name blue beard . The column is 7–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide.

Blue fairy orchid grows in a variety of habitats, from the margins of swamps to granite outcrops, heath, woodland and forest. It occurs in all states of Australia except Queensland and the Northern Territory. In Western Australia it is found from north of Kalbarri to as far east as Israelite Bay on the south coast. In New South Wales it is uncommon but sometimes forms clumps on the Central West Slopes and South West Plains south from Molong.