lizard orchid

Burnettia cuneata is a leafless, mycotrophic herb with a single leaf-like, lance-shaped to egg-shaped bract 10–20 mm (0.4–0.8 in) long and 6–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide near its base. The fleshy, dark purplish brown flowering stem is 30–130 mm (1–5 in) high and bears up to seven flowers. The flowers are 10–12 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long, 20–25 mm (0.8–1 in) wide, brownish on the back and pink or white inside. The sepals and petals are lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 10–130 mm (0.4–5 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide with the dorsal sepal forming a hood over the column. The labellum has dark red stripes and is wedge-shaped, 6–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long with two longitudinal ridges along its midline. Flowering occurs between September and December but nearly always only after fires the previous summer.

Lizard orchid grows in dense thickets of Melaleuca and Leptospermum in near coastal swamps in New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. In New South Wales it occurs south from the Blue Mountains and in Victoria between Portland and Mallacoota with a disjunct population in the Grampians.