Acianthus, commonly known as mosquito orchids, is a genus of about twelve species of plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Mosquito orchids are terrestrial herbs with a single, heart-shaped, usually ground-hugging leaf and one to many small, green, pinkish or purplish flowers on a fleshy stalk. They are found in New Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand.
Lewis Roberts, OAM, is a distinguished naturalist and botanical illustrator. Lewis and his brother, Charlie Roberts, are probably the leading experts on the flora and fauna of south-eastern part Cape York Peninsula and the northern Wet Tropics area. For three generations his family has lived at Shipton's Flat, about 45 km south of Cooktown, where he and Charlie were home-schooled. His father, Jack Lewis, was a tin miner and self-taught naturalist.
Dendrobium bigibbum, commonly known as the Cooktown orchid or mauve butterfly orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has cylindrical pseudobulbs, each with between three and five green or purplish leaves and arching flowering stems with up to twenty, usually lilac-purple flowers. It occurs in tropical North Queensland, Australia and New Guinea.
Spathoglottis plicata, commonly known as the Philippine ground orchid, or large purple orchid is an evergreen, terrestrial plant with crowded pseudobulbs, three or four large, pleated leaves and up to forty resupinate, pink to purple flowers. It is found from tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia and the western Pacific including Tonga and Samoa.
Bulbophyllum baileyi, commonly known as the fruit fly orchid, is a species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid that is native to Queensland and New Guinea. It has coarse, creeping rhizomes, curved, yellowish pseudobulbs with a single thick, fleshy leaf, and a single cream-coloured flower with yellow, red or purple spots. It grows on trees and rocks in open forest, often in exposed places.
Phaius robertsii, commonly known as forest swamp orchid, is a plant in the orchid family and is native to a small area of Tropical North Queensland and to New Caledonia. It is an evergreen, terrestrial herb with above-ground stems, three to five pleated leaves and up to twenty flowers which are yellow on the back and brick-red inside. It grows in wet places in rainforest.
Aphyllorchis queenslandica, commonly known as the yellow pauper orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has up to twelve dull yellow flowers on a thin, fleshy, purple flowering stem and is endemic to tropical north Queensland where it grows in rainforest.
Acianthus apprimus, commonly known as early mosquito orchid, is a flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales in Australia. It is a terrestrial herb with a single, heart-shaped leaf and between two and nine translucent pinkish flowers with reddish markings and is found in disjunct populations around the state.
Acianthus borealis, commonly known as northern mosquito orchid, is a flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Queensland in Australia. It is a glabrous, terrestrial herb with a single, heart-shaped leaf and between two and twenty transparent pinkish flowers with reddish markings and is widely distributed on the eastern tablelands.
Acianthus exiguus, commonly known as tiny mosquito orchid, is a flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales in Australia. It is a terrestrial herb with a single, heart-shaped leaf and up to five translucent greenish-white flowers with pinkish markings and is found growing in forests on the north coast of the state.
Arthrochilus latipes, commonly known as robust elbow orchid, is a flowering plant in the orchid family (Orchidaceae) and is endemic to the "Top End" of the Northern Territory in Australia. Each plant has from two to four ground-hugging leaves and between three and fifteen flowers during the wet season and the species often forms spreading colonies on sandstone escarpments. Like others in the genus, the flowers are pollinated by a species of thynnid wasp.
Pterostylis ziegeleri, commonly known as the Cape Portland greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves lying flat on the ground and flowering plants have up to eight crowded translucent, pale green flowers with darker green veins.
Genoplesium confertum, commonly known as the crowded midge orchid, is a small terrestrial orchid endemic to the south-east of Queensland. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to sixty small, densely crowded, reddish and green flowers and grows in coastal heath.
Caladenia fuliginosa is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single hairy leaf and a single relatively large, creamy-yellow flower, sometimes with reddish lines. The flowers have a smell resembling hot metal.
Diuris oporina, commonly called the autumn donkey orchid or northern white donkeys tails is a species of orchid that is endemic to Queensland. It has a single tapering, linear leaf at its base and up to ten white flowers with mauve to purple markings. It grows in the drier parts of the tablelands in Far North Queensland.
Chiloglottis trullata, commonly known as the triangular orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to Queensland. It has two dark green leaves and a single small, green or pinkish flower with a shiny, dark reddish black, insect-like callus surrounded by reddish club-shaped calli covering most of the upper surface of the labellum.
Arthrochilus lavarackianus, commonly known as the glaucous truffle orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family (Orchidaceae) and is endemic to the Torres Strait and Tropical North Queensland. It has one or two bluish green leaves at its base and up to fifteen greenish, insect-like flowers with red glands on its mushroom-like labellum. This species is known by some authorities as Phoringopsis lavarackiana.
Arthrochilus rosulatus, commonly known as rosetted elbow orchid, is a flowering plant in the orchid family (Orchidaceae) and is endemic to Tropical North Queensland. It has a rosette of bluish green leaves surrounding its base and up to fifteen pale green, insect-like flowers with dark red glands on its labellum.
Arthrochilus stenophyllus, commonly known as the narrow-leaved elbow orchid, is a flowering plant in the orchid family (Orchidaceae) and is endemic to Tropical North Queensland. It has a rosette of dull green leaves on side growth at its base and up to fifteen pale green, insect-like flowers with dark red to brownish glands on its labellum.
Gastrodia queenslandica, commonly known as rainforest bells, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has one or two small, yellowish brown, tube-shaped flowers on a thin, brittle flowering stem and grows in rainforest in tropical north Queensland, Australia.
