About Gastrodia procera G.W.Carr
Gastrodia procera G.W.Carr is a leafless, terrestrial mycotrophic herb. It produces a robust dark brown to blackish flowering stem that is 60 to 120 cm (20 to 50 inches) tall. This stem bears between five and seventy cinnamon brown, tube-shaped flowers which are warty on the outside and white on the inside. The sepals and petals are joined, forming a tube that is 10 to 12 mm (0.4 to 0.5 inches) long, and the petals have wavy edges. The labellum is 14 to 17 mm (0.6 to 0.7 inches) long, 5 to 8 mm (0.20 to 0.31 inches) wide, and white with orange edges. Flowering occurs between December and January, and it is enhanced by fire that occurs the previous summer. This species, commonly called the tall potato orchid, is widespread and common in high rainfall forest. It occurs across the range from south of Barrington Tops in New South Wales, through the Australian Capital Territory and southeastern Victoria, to Tasmania.
