Species profile—Phaius australis

Classification

Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Orchidaceae → Phaius australis

Species details

Kingdom

Plantae (plants)

Class

Equisetopsida (land plants)

Family

Orchidaceae

Scientific name

Phaius australis F.Muell.

WildNet taxon ID

12722

Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status

Endangered

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) status

Endangered

Conservation significant

Yes

Confidential

Yes

Wetland status

Wetland Indicator Species

Endemicity

Native

Pest status

Nil

Description

Phaius species are the largest ground orchids in Australia and are commonly called swamp orchids. Phaius australis plants have a partially buried bulb-like structure at their base, about 7cm in diameter, which bears up to 7 leaves. Leaves are tapered at each end, and grow up to 1.25m long and 10cm wide. The leaves are dark green, thin-textured, wavy in appearance and spread in a tussock.
The flowering stem can reach 2m in height and bears 4-16 large and spectacular flowers. Flowers are 10-15cm in diameter, cinnamon-brown to brick-red on the inside, white on the outside and can have yellow veins. The colour of the central large petal ranges from yellow to bright purple. Pods are large, 3 chambered capsules, splitting when ripe to release numerous fine white seeds. (Barker 1995)

Map

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Habitat

Phaius australis grows in areas where soils are almost always damp, but not flooded for lengthy periods. Sands are generally the underlying soil type. P. australis are usually found in coastal habitats between swamps and forests or in suitable areas further inland. This includes swampy sclerophyll forest dominated by melaleucas, swampy forest that often have scleorphyll emergents, or fringing open forest and melaleuca swamp forest associated with rainforest species. P. australis has also been recorded in wallum, sedgeland, rainforest and closed forest. They often grow in deep shade, but can also occur in full sun. This species occurs at higher altitudes in northern Queensland. (Barker 1995)

Reproduction

The flowering season of Phaius australis is mainly between August and December. Flowers are long lasting and open progressively so that a plant is in flower for several weeks. Both cross and self pollination have been documented, but the exact breeding system is unknown. Seedlings have only been found in relatively open areas. (Barker 1995)

Threatening processes

Collecting, draining of habitat for housing, agriculture, sand mining and related infra-structure, peat mining, golf courses etc.

Management documents

Conservation and management of protected plants in trade in Queensland 1995-1998. Department of Environment.

Notes

Contributors: Weslawa Misiak 10/09/1998; Peter Bostock, Mellisa Mayhew 13/03/2009

References

Barker, M. (1995). Phaius australis, in Species Management Manual. Department of Natural Resources, Brisbane.
Clements, M.A. (1989). Catalogue of Australian Orchidaceae. Australian Orchid Research 1: 1-160.
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2008). Phaius australis in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra. Accessed 10/10/2008. http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/sprat.pl
Dockrill, A.W. (1992). Australian Indigenous Orchids. Volume 1 & 2. Surrey Beatty & Sons in association with The Society for Growing Australian Plants, Chipping Norton, NSW.
Herbrecs (2008). Phaius australis, in BriMapper version 2.12. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 10/10/2008.

Profile author

Peter Bostock (13/03/2009)

Other resources

• Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT)
• The Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH)
• Atlas of Living Australia

Data source

This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=12722.

This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.