Scientific Name: Burnettia cuneata

Common Name: lizard orchid

Family Classification (Clade): Monocots

Family: Orchidaceae

Form Description: Leafless with a dark purplish brown stem.

Height (m): 0.05 – 0.13

Flowers: 1-4 (rarely 7) white or pink flowers 25mm across, strongly hooded dorsal sepal, red striped labellum covered with numerous short calli. Flower only fully open when weather is warm and humid.

Fruit: Papery capsule

Municipality
Break O’DayBurnieDerwent ValleyDorsetFlindersHuon ValleyKing IslandKingboroughLatrobeTasmanWaratah-WynyardWest CoastWest Tamar
Plant Communities
Coastal VegetationHeath
Habitat Notes

Damp button grass moorland, sedgeland, damp heathland and paperbark or teatree scrub.

Site Tolerance

Exposed, Moist, Waterlogged

Soil Tolerance

Poorly-drained

Frost Tolerance

Moderate

General Notes

Strong response to high intensity summer fires in the preceding season, appearing as a leafless flowering plant, often in very large numbers.

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.