ORCHIDACEAE

Pink Spiral Orchid

 

0.25m - 0.45m (25-45cm) 

brilliant pink and white (rarely wholey white) flowers arranged in a dense spiral. 

Papery capsule 

Summer flowering orchid with a loose basal rosette of lanceolate leaves. 

Break O'Day; Burnie; Central Highlands; Derwent Valley; Dorset; Flinders Island; Glamorgan-Spring Bay; Glenorchy; Huon Valley; King Island; Latrobe; Launceston; Meander Valley; Northern Midlands; Southern Midlands; Tasman; West Coast; West Tamar 

Heath; Montane Vegetation; Sedgeland and Wetland 

Grows in wet to poorly drained marshes and sedgelands on peaty or silty soils that are usually waterlogged in winter and spring. In drier areas plants typically grow around marshes in a narrow strip between dry ground and the permanently inundated centre. Widespread and locally fairly common throughout the state including King Is. from lowland to 800m. Also in Qld, NSW, ACT, Vic. and SA. 

Exposed; Moist; Waterlogged 

Hardy 

Clay; Loam; Poor; Poorly-drained; Sandy 

Formerly included in the globally distributed S. sinensis. but is now regarded as a distinct Australian species. A population with a wider labellum at Woods Lake in the Central Highlands is under study. In Vic. the flowers are pollinated by the bees Coelioxys albolincata. and Halictus sp. 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.