ORCHIDACEAE

Strap Beard Orchid

 

0.25m - 0.35m (25-35cm) 

The labellum has long, coarse, non-glandular reddish hairs with the lowest ones reduced to small calli, and a prominant long naked strap on the apex. 

Papery capsule 

Slender beard orchid with a narrow keeeled leaf, widely spreading perianth segments that are usually bronze or reddish. 

Break O'Day; Burnie; Central Coast; Circular Head; Derwent Valley; Devonport; Dorset; Flinders Island; Georgetown; Hobart; Huon Valley; Kentish; King Island; Kingborough; Latrobe; Tasman; Waratah-Wynyard; West Coast; West Tamar 

Dry Eucalypt Forest and Woodland; Heath; Sedgeland and Wetland 

Heathy and sedgy open eucalypt forest, tea tree scrub, sedgeland and heathland on poorly drained peats and sandy soils, often near soaks. 

Exposed; Moist; Shady; Waterlogged 

Tender 

Poor; Poorly-drained; Sandy 

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.