About
The straggly rush orchid is a small ground-dwelling orchid of swamps and stream banks from Indochina to northern Australia. Wiry leafy stems bear small white or cream flowers whose lip barely opens.
Field notes
Morphology
A terrestrial perennial forming small clumps of thin, wiry, erect or straggling stems 20–60 cm long with narrow, notch-tipped leaves 4–6 cm long. White, cream or greenish flowers 5–10 mm long appear singly or in pairs in the leaf axils; the warty white lip opens only a little.
Distribution & habitat
Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and northern Australia (Arnhem Land and Cape York Peninsula south to Cardwell).
Ecology
Grows among rushes and sedges in swampy ground and near streams. Flowers December to May; the lip sometimes stays closed.
History & etymology
Described in 1853 by Johannes Teijsmann and Simon Binnendijk from a Singapore specimen; named after collector Thomas Lobb.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Australia
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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