ORCHIDACEAE

Elegant Caladenia (orchid)

 

0.08m - 0.15m (8-15cm) 

Flower single, pale pink to dark pink, labellum whitish, heavily suffused and barred with red, mid-lobe cream, calli cream or yellow, column whitish with red suffusions and bars. 

Papery capsule 

Leaf narrowly linear, dark green, base reddish purple. Scapesparsely hairy. 

Central Highlands; Flinders Island; Glenorchy; Hobart; Huon Valley; Kentish; Kingborough; Launceston; Meander Valley; Northern Midlands; Southern Midlands; Tasman; Waratah-Wynyard; West Coast 

Dry Eucalypt Forest and Woodland; Heath 

Tas. endemic. Shrubby ahd heathy open eucalypt forest, tea tree shrubland and heathland. Often favouring damp and poorly drained sites. 

Moist; Moist; Shady; Waterlogged 

Moderate 

Clay; Fertile; Loam; Poor; Poorly-drained 

Relatively high fire frequency habitat. Well represented in reserves. Suitable below powerlines. 

 

Standard 

 

 

Orchid seeds are very minute yellow, brown or blackish dust-like particles. Orchid seeds are produced within a capsule that splits at maturity and releases tousands to millions of seeds. Dispersed by wind and water and only germinate following infection of the embryo by a suitable mycorrhizal fungus. Very few seeds become mature plants. For more information see Jones, Wapstra, Tonelli, Harris (1999): The Orchids of Tasmania.