The open plant encyclopedia
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.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Thelymitra purpurata
Wallum sun orchid is a tuberous, perennial terrestrial orchid with a single leaf and up to ten purplish flowers that open on sunny days. It grows in coastal heath, so give it open, sunny, moist-to-wet conditions in acidic soil.
Thelymitra purpurata, commonly called wallum sun orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has up to ten purplish flowers with long, finger-like glands on the top of the column and flowers earlier in the season than most other thelymitras.
Wallum sun orchid is common in heath in coastal Queensland south of Fraser Island to Myall Lakes in New South Wales.
Abrupt Sun Orchid · Wyong sun orchid · Gumland sun orchid · Bleak sun orchid · White sun orchid · Kath's sun orchid · Alpins striped sun orchid · Mountain sun orchid · Long-leaved sun orchid · Rabbit-eared sun orchid · Cleopatra's needles · Forest sun orchid
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Thelymitra purpurata 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.
