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Acianthus exsertus
Large mosquito orchid is a small, deciduous, tuberous terrestrial orchid from eastern Australia, grown mainly as a native woodland plant rather than a houseplant. It needs a cool, sheltered, well-drained woodland spot and a dormant winter period.
Acianthus exsertus, commonly known as gnat orchid or large mosquito orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a terrestrial herb with a single, heart-shaped leaf and up to 25 small, fine, dark brown flowers with pinkish and purplish markings and is found growing in sheltered places in forests in Queensland, New South Wales the ACT and Victoria.
This orchid is widespread and locally common, sometimes in coastal areas but more usually on the ranges and tablelands in sheltered forest and woodland, growing in well-drained soil. In Queensland, it occurs as far north as Rockhampton, in New South Wales in most regions of the coast and tablelands and in eastern Victoria, from sea level to an altitude of 800 m (3,000 ft).
Stigmatodactylus amplexicaulis · Pixie Caps · Pixie Caps · Mayfly orchid · Pixie Caps · Acianthus cuneatus · Pixie Caps · Pixie caps · Acianthus ledwardii · Small Mosquito Orchid · Acianthus saxatilis · Acianthus scopulus
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Acianthus exsertus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
