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Windswept spider-orchid

Caladenia dienema

Windswept spider-orchid
Photo: Brendan Costello, CC BY 4.0

Windswept spider-orchid is a small, deciduous ground orchid from coastal Tasmania with a single hairy leaf and one or two dark red flowers. It is a tuberous geophyte, so the key to growing it is respecting its dormant period and its need for open, windswept heath conditions.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water moderately while in active growth and keep the tuber from drying out, then reduce watering during the deciduous dormant period.
Soil
Free-draining, sandy or gritty mix with some organic matter.
Temperature
10–20 °C; tolerates cool coastal conditions and frost, protect from prolonged heat above 25 °C.
How easy
Hard
Native range
Tasmania
Climate
subtropical

About

Caladenia dienema, commonly known as the windswept spider-orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a ground orchid with a single, hairy leaf and a single, variably-coloured, usually dark red flower on a thin, wiry stem 5–12 cm (2–5 in) high.

Where it grows

Elegant caladenia grows in windswept, low heath and in rocky areas in heathy woodland. It occurs in areas near the coast of Tasmania, north of the Pieman River, especially near Temma and Marrawah, although it was previously recorded on the north-west coast near Stanley.

Other Caladenia plants

Coastal spider orchid · Canberra spider orchid · Caladenia ×aestantha · Summer spider orchid · Fairy orchid · Stegostyla Alpina · Boranup spider orchid · Bundarra spider orchid · Charming spider orchid · Dainty spider orchid · Dainty blue china orchid · Genoa spider orchid

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Caladenia dienema 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.

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