Scientific Name: Gastrodia sesamoides
Common Name: short potato-orchid
Family Classification (Clade): Monocots
Family: Orchidaceae
Form Description: Slender leafless orchid with a brown scape.
Height (m): 0.15 – 0.5
Flowers: Inflorescence apex strongly hooked in bud. Relatively few (3-25) pendant-like uncrowded flowers to 20mm long. Flowers greyish-white externally, crystalline white internally. Labellum whitish with orange margins. Flowers with a strong cinnamon-like fragrance. Self-pollinating.
Fruit: Papery capsule
Municipality
Plant Communities
Habitat Notes
Tall open eucalypt forest, heathy open forest and shrubby woodland, teatree scrub and heathland on moderately to well-drained sandy and clay soils. Widespread and locally fairly common in lowland areas, mainly in the drier coastal region, but occasionally extending to higher altitudes and areas with higher rainfall.
Site Tolerance
Dry, Exposed, Moist, Shady
Soil Tolerance
Clay, Loam, Sandy, Well-drained
Frost Tolerance
Moderate
General Notes
Favours fire prone habitats and flowering is strongly promoted by summer fires.
Propagation Calendar
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Flowering Month
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Seed Collecting Month
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Sowing Month
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Cutting Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Propagation 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.