Scientific Name: Corybas aconitiflorus

Common Name: spurred helmet-orchid

Family Classification (Clade): Monocots

Family: Orchidaceae

Form Description: A small ground-hugging helmet orchid. Heart-shaped leaf, dark green above, purple below.

Flowers: A single, semi-nodding, grey-green to greyish-pink flower, 20-25 mm, a hooded dorsal sepal almost enclosing the labellum and prominent spur-like appendages sheathing the stem at its base.

Municipality
Break O’DayBurnieCentral CoastCircular HeadDevonportDorsetFlindersGeorge TownGlamorgan-Spring BayHuon ValleyKentishLatrobeLauncestonSorellTasmanWaratah-WynyardWest Tamar
Plant Communities
Coastal VegetationHeath
Habitat Notes

Locally common in coastal and near-coastal lowland scrub on moist but well drained soils.

General Notes

The only Tasmanian Corybas with a hooded dorsal sepal almost enclosing the flower.

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.