Pocket BotanistPlant guide
Flying duck orchid.
Caleana major
Pronounced kah-LEE-ah-nah MAY-jor
Also known as Large Flying Duck Orchid
Scan with your phone's camera to get the app
Or go to pocketbotanist.app/get on your phone
The flying duck orchid is a fascinating Australian native known for its unique flower shape that mimics a duck in flight. It is a terrestrial orchid that grows from a small underground tuber. You will find it quite challenging to grow outside of its natural habitat.
At a glance
- Care level
- Difficult
- Plant type
- Terrestrial orchid
- Light
- Partial shade
- Indoor light
- Bright indirect
- Water
- Every 5 to 10 days
- Mature size
- 20 to 50 centimeters
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Hardiness
- USDA 9 to 11
- Bloom time
- Late spring to early summer
Care
This orchid requires a specific symbiotic fungus in the soil to survive. Keep the soil moist during the growing season and allow it to dry out during the dormant phase. Watch for signs of rot if the soil stays too wet for too long.
- Watering
- Keep the soil consistently moist while the plant is actively growing.
- Feeding
- Use a very weak balanced liquid fertilizer during the active growing season.
- Pruning
- Remove dead foliage only after the plant has entered full dormancy.
- Repotting
- Repot during the dormant season to avoid damaging the sensitive tuber.
- Soil
- Well draining sandy loam
- Soil pH
- Acidic
- Temperature
- 5 to 25°C
- Humidity
- 50 to 70%
Safety
- People
- There is no evidence of human toxicity, but it is not considered a food plant.
- Children
- The small, delicate structure of the plant makes it unsuitable for handling by small children.
- Edibility
- This plant is not edible and should never be consumed.
How to identify it
- Flower resembles a duck in flight
- Single reddish brown flower
- Small solitary basal leaf
- Slender wiry stem
- Height
- 0.2 to 0.5m
- Spread
- 0.05 to 0.1m
- Leaves
- green, deciduous
- Flowers
- reddish-brown, green, 2 to 3cm
Problems to watch for
- Root RotCommon
- AphidsUncommon
- Botrytis BlightUncommon
- Slugs and SnailsUncommon
Check your flying duck orchid from a photo
Pocket Botanist looks at a photo of your plant and tells you what's wrong and what to try first.
Scan with your phone's camera to get the app
Or go to pocketbotanist.app/get on your phone
Growing it
- Propagation
- seed
- When to plant
- autumn
Keep this plant in a specialized orchid collection rather than a general garden bed.
Grows well with
- Eucalyptus · These trees provide the dappled shade and leaf litter environment the orchid prefers.
Similar species
- Small Duck Orchid · It is a smaller relative with a similar duck-like flower shape.
Science
- Family
- Orchidaceae
- Genus
- Caleana
- Order
- Asparagales
- Class
- Liliopsida
- Native range
- Eastern and southern Australia
- Conservation
- This orchid is protected in many parts of its native range and should never be collected from the wild.
It grows in eucalyptus forests and woodlands where it depends on specific soil fungi for nutrient exchange.
- Value to wildlife
- specialized pollination mechanism
- Pollinators
- bees
- Uses
- ornamental curiosity, botanical interest
Through the year
Ecological indicators
- Salinity
- 1/9
- Soil reaction
- 4/9
- Light
- 4/9
- Temperature
- 6/9
- Moisture
- 4/9
- Nutrients
- 2/9
Taxonomy resolved against GBIF.
Questions people ask
- Can I grow this in a pot?
- It is extremely challenging to keep alive in containers due to its strict fungal requirements.
- Why did my plant disappear?
- The plant is deciduous and naturally dies back to its underground tuber during the summer.
Where the name comes from
The genus honors George Caley, an early botanical explorer in Australia, while the species name major refers to its relatively large size compared to other species.
Good to know
- It is commonly called the Flying Duck Orchid because the flower looks like a duck in flight.
- The plant is notoriously difficult to grow in cultivation.
- It relies on a specific mycorrhizal fungus in the soil to survive.
Also in
Keep your flying duck orchid growing
This page is a general guide. Save your plant in Pocket Botanist and you get care reminders timed for this plant, plus a care history that shows what worked.
Scan with your phone's camera to get the app
Or go to pocketbotanist.app/get on your phone
This guide was generated with AI on and checked against GBIF taxonomy. It is general information, not horticultural or veterinary advice. Read about how we build these guides.