Lamington Underground Orchid

About

One of the world's strangest orchids, spending its entire life underground with no chlorophyll or leaves, surviving entirely on a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. It has only ever been collected once, at 1,200m elevation in Lamington National Park.

How to spot it

Never seen above ground; fleshy underground stems produce a head of many small dull-coloured flowers with a thick fleshy nectar-less labellum, found in wet sclerophyll forest soil.

Found in

• Lamington & Springbrook National Parks / Lamington National Park (Green Mountains section)
• Lamington National Park (Binna Burra)
• Lamington National Park (O'Reilly's)