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Diuris pallescens

Diuris pallescens
Photo: Hugo Innes, CC BY 4.0

Diuris pallescens, the pale donkey orchid, is a tuberous terrestrial orchid endemic to south-western Western Australia, growing in heathy shrubland often near granite outcrops. It is a wild species rarely cultivated, and it grows best from a dormant tuber in open, well-drained, seasonally moist ground.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water moderately during the winter and spring growing season and keep nearly dry while dormant over summer.
Soil
Sandy, free-draining, low-nutrient soil, similar to its native sandplain habitat.
Temperature
Mild Mediterranean-type conditions, roughly 5–25 °C; protect from hard frost and extreme summer heat.
How easy
Hard
Native range
Western Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

Diuris pallescens, commonly known as pale donkey orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has two or three linear to lance-shaped leaves and up to seven pale yellow flowers with light brown to reddish-brown markings.

Where it grows

Pale donkey orchid grows in low, heathy shrubland, often near granite outcrops, mainly in the area between Three Springs, Coorow and Dalwallinu in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Geraldton Sandplains and Mallee 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 pallescens 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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