ORCHIDACEAE

Red Beaks, Undertaker Orchid

 

0.08m - 0.2m (8-20cm) 

white flowers with prominant dark reddish stripes, large strongly hooded dorsal sepal and a whitish deeply fringed labellum. The plants turn black on drying. 

Papery capsule 

Colony forming orchid with a large fleshy ovate ground-hugging leaf. 

 

Coastal Vegetation; Grassy Vegetation; Heath; Sedgeland and Wetland 

Heathy eucalypt woodland, tea tree scrub, sedgeland and heathland on moderately to well-drained sandy soils. Widespread and locally abundant in coastal and near coastal lowland on the Tasman Peninsula and in northern Tasmania, including Bass Strait Is. Also in NSW, Vic., SA and WA. 

Dry; Exposed 

Tender 

Poor; Sandy; Well-drained 

Previously known as Lyperanthus nigricans. 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.