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 (now
Leptoceras menziesii),
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 •
Epiblema grandiflorum •
Microtis alba •
Microtis media •
Microtis pulchella •
Prasophyllum gibbosum •
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. ==Orchids of South Western Australia==