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Scientific Name
Caleana major
Family Name
ORCHIDACEAE
Common Name
Large Duck Orchid
Status
Height
0.2m - 0.4m (20-40cm)
Flowers
Usually bearing 1-3 flying-duck-shaped reddish flowers with a sensitive hinged, smooth, broad labellum that snaps into the broad reddish column wings when touched.
Fruit
Papery capsule
Form
Broad reddish, often spotted leaf, tall wiry scape.
Municipalities
Break O'Day; Burnie; Central Highlands; Clarence; Derwent Valley; Dorset; Flinders Island; Georgetown; Glamorgan-Spring Bay; Hobart; Huon Valley; Kentish; Kingborough; Latrobe; Launceston; Northern Midlands; Sorell; Southern Midlands; Tasman; Waratah-Wynyard; West Tamar
Communities
Dry Eucalypt Forest and Woodland; Heath
Habitat Notes
Heathy open eucalypt forest, she-oak woodland, tea-tree scrub and heathland. Widespread and locally common in lowland areas below 250m in the north, east and south east and on Flinders Is. Also in Qld, N.S.W., Vic. and S.A.
Site Tolerance
Dry; Exposed; Shady
Frost Tolerance
Tender
Soil Tolerance
Loam; Poor; Sandy; Well-drained
General Notes
Suitable below powerlines.
Propagation Details
Propagation Calendar
Flowering Months
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Seed Collecting Months
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Sowing Months
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Cutting Months
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Seed Information
Seed Collection
Seed Treatment Method
Standard
Seed Storage Life
Viable Seeds Per Gram
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 tousands 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.
Germination Time
Suitable for Direct Seeding
Cuttings
Expected Time to Take Root
Expected Time to Plant Out
Propagation by Division
N.B. Transplant only from nearby to avoid disease.
Cutting Notes
Copyright 2000-2009, Understorey Network Incorporated. Updated 2024-12-12
Database development and website design by
Andrew Smith