Scientific Name: Acianthus pusillus

Common Name: small mosquito-orchid

Family Classification (Clade): Monocots

Family: Orchidaceae

Form Description: Ground-hugging leaves, often in dense colonies.

Height (m): 0.03 – 0.18

Flowers: Slender raceme of small pale green to dark brown flowers, labellum green to reddish.

Fruit: Papery capsule

Municipality
Break O’DayBurnieCentral CoastCircular HeadDevonportDorsetFlindersGeorge TownKentishKing IslandLatrobeLauncestonMeander ValleyWaratah-WynyardWest CoastWest Tamar
Plant Communities
Coastal VegetationHeath
Habitat Notes

Heathy open eucalypt forest, often among bracken, teatree scrub and heathland.

Site Tolerance

Dry, Moist, Shady

Soil Tolerance

Loam, Sandy, Well-drained

Frost Tolerance

Tender

General Notes

Generally responds positively to fire, but flowering is inhibited in the first spring following a summer fire.

Propagation Calendar

  • Flowering Month
    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
  • Seed Collecting Month
    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
  • Sowing Month
    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
  • Cutting Month
    Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Propagation Method
Specialist Method

Seed Information

Seed Treatment Notes

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 thousands 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.