ORCHIDACEAE

Tall Potato Orchid

 

0.6m - 1.2m (60-120cm) 

erect inflorescence both in bud and flower, and numerous crowded tubular brown flowers to 25mm long. 

Papery capsule 

Robust leafless orchid with a brown scape. 

Break O'Day; Burnie; Central Highlands; Circular Head; Derwent Valley; Georgetown; Glamorgan-Spring Bay; Huon Valley; Kentish; King Island; Kingborough; Latrobe; Launceston; Meander Valley; Waratah-Wynyard; West Coast 

Dry Eucalypt Forest and Woodland; Grassy Vegetation 

Tall, shrubby or grassy open eucalypt forest, often in clearings and on disturbed margins of roads and tracks, in well-drained loams and clays rich in humus, often in deep accumulated litter. Widespread but locallised and uncommon, favouring higher rainfall areas up to 600m. Also in NSW., ACT. and Vic. 

Dry; Exposed; Moist; Shady 

Hardy 

Clay; Fertile; Loam; Sandy; Well-drained 

Fires do not occur frquently in the habitats of this species, but flowering is enhanced by summer fires. G. procera. is 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.