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Butterfly orchid

Caladenia lobata

Butterfly orchid
Photo: Geoffrey Derrin, CC BY-SA 4.0

Caladenia lobata, the butterfly orchid, is a terrestrial orchid from south-west Western Australia with one hairy leaf and one or two greenish-yellow flowers marked with red, whose labellum vibrates in the slightest breeze. It is a wild native rather than a common garden or houseplant, so cultivation is not well documented.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Light
Part shade
Water
Keep the soil lightly moist during the growing season and let it dry somewhat while the plant is dormant.
Soil
Well-drained sandy or gravelly loam, similar to its native grey sand and laterite.
Temperature
Mild Mediterranean-type climate; protect from hard frost.
How easy
Hard
Native range
SW. Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

Caladenia lobata, commonly known as the butterfly orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has a single, hairy leaf and one or two greenish-yellow flowers with red markings which have a labellum which vibrates in the slightest breeze.

Where it grows

The butterfly orchid usually grows in dense, shrubby forest in well-drained grey sand, gravelly or clayey loam, or laterite, frequently on flats and slopes near streams. It is found between Bunbury and the Stirling Range in the Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographical regions of Western Australia.

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 lobata 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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