Plant Wiki

The open plant encyclopedia

Know any plant.
Grow it well.

Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.

  • 13,000+plants with full pages
  • 365,000+plant species worldwide
  • 220+countries covered

Common in

See all

The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.

What do you want to do?

Popular plants

Browse all plants

See them in 3D

All plants in 3D

Browse plants

Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.

Plant Wiki › Browse plants

Fringed helmet orchid

Corybas fimbriatus

Fringed helmet orchid
Photo: Richard White, CC BY 2.0

A small deciduous terrestrial orchid from eastern Australia with a single leaf and a dark reddish purple flower. It is one of the easier Corybas to grow, given a free-draining sandy mix, good airflow and partial sun.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Light
Part shade
Water
Keep the sandy mix lightly moist during growth and let it dry back while the plant is dormant.
Soil
Free-draining sandy orchid mix.
Temperature
10–25 °C; protect from hard frost and heat.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
E. & SE. Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

Corybas fimbriatus, commonly known as the fringed helmet orchid, is a species of terrestrial orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has a broad egg-shaped to round leaf and a dark reddish purple to crimson flower with translucent patches. It is similar to C. hispidus but its labellum lacks a creamy-white centre and is not covered with bristly hairs.

How to grow it

Although usually only cultivated by orchid enthusiasts, C. fimbriatus is more easily grown than other orchids in the same genus. It is grown in a free draining, sandy mix and requires good air circulation with 50% sun.

Where it grows

Corybas fimbriatus is widespread and common, growing in heath and moist forest. It occurs in Queensland south from Gympie, on the coast and ranges of New South Wales, in south-east Victoria and in Tasmania. There is also an isolated population on the Atherton Tableland.

Other Corybas plants

Swamp helmet orchid · Nodding helmet orchid · Cradle Orchid · Dancing spider orchid · Fairy lanterns · Swamp helmet orchid · Red helmet orchid · Cheesemans spider orchid · Corybas circinatus · Corybas confusus · Hidden spider orchid · Corybas dentatus

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Corybas fimbriatus 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.

Credits & terms

Identify a plant

Point at a leaf or flower and snap. One plant in frame works best.

Your photo
Starting camera…