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Lofty beard orchid

Calochilus praealtus

Calochilus praealtus is a rare, deciduous terrestrial orchid from a tuber, endemic to the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, known only from two mountain areas. It grows wild in grassy snow gum woodland and is not a common cultivated plant, so care advice here is general and approximate.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Light
Part shade
Water
Water moderately during its growing season and keep the tuber nearly dry while it is dormant.
Soil
Free-draining, humus-rich, gritty potting mix suited to terrestrial orchids.
Temperature
10–22 °C; tolerates cool conditions and some frost in its native habitat.
How easy
Hard
Native range
New South Wales
Climate
subtropical

About

Calochilus praealtus, commonly known as lofty beard orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. It has a single pale green leaf and up to six pale green flowers with faint red stripes and a labellum with a dark purple beard. It is only known from two mountainous areas.

Where it grows

Lofty beard orchid grows with grasses in snow gum woodland. It is only known from Barrington Tops and the Mount Kaputar National Park.

Other Calochilus plants

Calochilus ammobius · Wiry beard orchid · Blue beard orchid · Copper Beard Orchid · Pallid beard orchid · Slender beard orchid · Giant beard orchid · Pale beard orchid · Ghostly beard orchid · Imperial beard orchid · Metallic beard orchid · Mountain beard orchid

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Calochilus praealtus 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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