Scientific Name: Thelymitra ixioides

Common Name: spotted sun-orchid

Family Classification (Clade): Monocots

Family: Orchidaceae

Form Description: A slender to stout blue, spotted sun orchid, with a single, flesh, channelled, dark-ground leaf.

Height (m): 0.3 – 0.6

Flowers: 2-10 pale to dark blue flowers, 30-35 mm across, usually with small, darker blue spots on the dorsal sepal and petals. Column bluish with a dark reddish blue collar, topped with irregular yellow glands; column tufts that are usually white.

Municipality
Break O’DayBrightonBurnieCentral HighlandsClarenceDerwent ValleyDorsetFlindersGeorge TownGlamorgan-Spring BayHobartHuon ValleyKing IslandKingboroughLatrobeLauncestonNorthern MidlandsSouthern MidlandsTasmanWaratah-WynyardWest CoastWest Tamar
Plant Communities
Dry Eucalypt ForestHeath
Habitat Notes

Common in lowland sites, in open woodlands and heathlands.

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.