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Jug orchid

Pterostylis recurva

Jug orchid
Photo: Gnangarra, CC BY 2.5 au

Pterostylis recurva, the jug orchid, is a deciduous terrestrial orchid from south-west Western Australia that grows from an underground tuber and bears up to four white, green and brown jug-shaped flowers in spring. It is a wild orchid, rarely grown in gardens, and is best left in its native habitat.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Light
Part shade
Water
Water sparingly while in leaf and let it go dormant and dry out over summer, as it naturally does.
Soil
Sandy or gravelly, free-draining soil, as found in its native habitat.
Temperature
Cool to mild conditions suit it; it grows in a Mediterranean-type climate with a cool, wet winter and spring.
How easy
Hard
Native range
WSW. & SW. Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

Pterostylis recurva commonly known as the jug orchid, recurved shell orchid, antelope orchid or bull orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a relatively common orchid which has up to four jug-shaped or funnel-shaped white flowers with green and brown lines and markings. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a short stalk.

Where it grows

The jug orchid is found in woodland, shrubland, forest and in shallow soil on granite outcrops. It grows in sand, clay, laterite and gravel soils and is common and widespread between Geraldton and Israelite Bay.

Other Pterostylis plants

Tablelands greenhood · Needle-point rustyhood · Pterostylis actites · Sharp greenhood · Long-tongued summer greenhood · Kauri Greenhood · Sutton Grange Greenhood · Striped greenhood · Shy greenhood · Winter Greenhood · Alpine greenhood · Coastal greenhood

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pterostylis recurva 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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