Tropical Helmet Orchids

Author: Matt McIntosh, Cairns Branch

Published: Journal September 2021

The orchids are a group famous for their weird and intricate shapes. Amongst Australia's rich and diverse ground orchid flora, the helmet orchids (Corybas) contain some of the strangest flowers. With their hooded dorsal sepal and heart shape leaf, these orchids are easy to identify, but tiny and difficult to find. The Wet Tropics is home to four species, which Matt has provided photos of, below.

Corybas abellianus was described by Alick Dockrill in 1955, who "... named in honour of the first collectors. Mr. W. A. Abell has collected a number of new and rare orchids in several localities in Queensland and has generously donated many specimens to various herbaria."

Although common and widespread, Corybas barbarae was only described in 1988. David Jones named it in honour of his wife, writing "this species is named in honour of Barbara Elizabeth Jones, who has encouraged and assisted the orchid research of D.L. Jones for more than 20 years."

Corybas cerasinus is a rare plant restricted to the Wet Tropics bioregion. It was described by Bruce Gray and David Jones in 2001 from a specimen collected by Lewis Roberts. Previously it was mistaken for C. neocaledonicus.

Corybas fimbriatus is another widespread species in eastern Australia, named for its fringed labellum.

Corybas abellianus

Corybas barbarae

Corybas cerasinus

Corybas fimbriatus