Scientific Name: Caladenia transitoria

Common Name: green finger-orchid

Family Classification (Clade): Monocots

Family: Orchidaceae

Form Description: Small cap orchid. Leaf narrowly linear, base slightly reddish, densely hairy. Scape very slender and wiry, sparsely hairy.

Height (m): 0.08 – 0.16

Flowers: Flowers 1-3 short lived, sometimes not opening, creamy-green to yellowish green internally, greenish-brown externally, labellum pink with purple bars and blotches, the apex calli dark purplish black, column greenish, spotted and blotched with red. Short flowering period, often just one or two days (transitory). Self pollinating.

Fruit: Papery capsule

Municipality
BurnieCentral CoastDevonportFlindersHuon ValleyKentishKing IslandKingboroughLatrobeLauncestonMeander ValleySouthern MidlandsWaratah-WynyardWest CoastWest Tamar
Plant Communities
Dry Eucalypt ForestHeath
Habitat Notes

Occurs in shrubby and heathy open eucalypt forest and teatree shrubland. Grows in soils covered with bracken and heavy leaf litter.

Site Tolerance

Dry, Exposed

Soil Tolerance

Clay, Fertile, Loam, Sandy, Well-drained

Frost Tolerance

Moderate

General Notes

Fires are relatively infrequent in this habitat, and flowering plants have been found one or two years after 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.