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Common Donkey Orchid

Diuris longifolia

Also called Purple Pansy Orchid

Common Donkey Orchid
Photo: Geoffrey Derrin, CC BY-SA 4.0

Diuris longifolia, the purple pansy orchid, is a tuberous terrestrial orchid native to south-west Western Australia, grown mainly for its purple and mauve spring flowers. It is a wild native rather than a common garden plant, so it needs moist, sandy, lateritic soil and a cool, seasonally wet cycle.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Light
Part shade, Full sun
Water
Water moderately during the winter growing season and keep it nearly dry while dormant in summer.
Soil
Free-draining sandy or loamy mix, similar to native lateritic sand.
Temperature
10–22 °C during growth; protect from hard frost and summer heat above 30 °C.
How easy
Hard
Native range
SW. Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

Diuris longifolia, commonly known as purple pansy orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has up to three linear leaves and up to seven purple and mauve flowers with yellowish markings from September to November.

Where it grows

Purple pansy orchid is found between Perth and Albany, where it grows in sand, lateritic loam, clay and granite in moist situations in shrublands, woodland and forest, in the Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Other Diuris plants

Lemon doubletail · Buttercup doubletail · White donkey orchid · Diuris amabilis · Giant donkey orchid · Tomaree donkey orchid · Golden Donkey Orchid · Little golden moths · Golden Cowslips · Diuris brachyscapa · Diuris bracteata · Short-leaved donkey orchid

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Diuris longifolia 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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