Orchids


There are about 30,000 species of orchid worldwide making Orchidaceae the largest family of flowering plants. They are found in a diverse range of habitats.

Orchids have distinctive flowers, consisting of three sepals and three petals. The third petal is greatly modified into a specialised structure known as a labellum. Another distinctive feature is the column, a fusion of the sexual parts of the flower (stamens and style) into a fleshy structure. Most terrestrial orchids grow from a tuber which is replaced each year.

Some orchids are designated as rare and endangered plants. Others, although reasonably common, are very localised in their occurence. All orchids are protected species and should not be disturbed in their native habitat. For these reasons all orchids have been included as rare or sensitive plants.


Orchids

Announcements

1 hr ago

There will be some temporary disruption to attributes when adding or editing sightings while we upgrade a complex part of the system.This may mean that some of the usual questions that are relevant to...


Continue reading

New feature: duplicate a sighting

Capital Ecology backs NatureMapr for 2026

NatureMapr integrates with Wildlife Insights for NSW based camera trap data

NatureMapr update

Discussion

Jennybach wrote:
16 Jun 2025
Fantastic. I only just touched on this place….so much to look at and photograph that I only covered about a tenth of the trail in over an hour.

Acianthus sp.
Clarel wrote:
16 Jun 2025
Acianthus fornicatus (Pixie-caps)

You were a bit unlucky, I photographed these early ones less than a month ago. They are growing in lots of areas at different stages of flowering. This reserve is great to visit for orchids, something is always in flower.

Acianthus sp.
Jennybach wrote:
15 Jun 2025
Thanks. I’ll pop back next year

Acianthus sp.
Csteele4 wrote:
15 Jun 2025
@MattM yeah, I had a look through and there are a few which definitely look right to me. Lach said the sepals tend to have that white outer edge, and yes, the post-anther lobe is never red, always yellow and a bit more "hoof-like" in appearance.

Thelymitra latifolia
LeahColebrook wrote:
13 Jun 2025
Thanks Matt. The ID tip is very helpful, I’ll remember that for future sightings :) cheers !

Cyrtostylis reniformis
824,702 sightings of 22,585 species from 14,236 members
CCA 3.0 | privacy
NatureMapr is developed and subsidised by at3am IT Pty Ltd and is proudly Australian made