23/05/2026
Corybas hispidus D. L. Jones (1973)
Native range:
South-East Queensland to East Victoria, Australia.
(New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria)
Synonyms:
1.Corysanthes hispida (D.L.Jones) D. L. Jones & M. A. Clem. (2002)
Common names:
1.The Bristly Helmet Orchid.
2.The Shaggy Corybas.
The provenance of this plant is Unknown.
In Greek mythology, a group of mythical figures were known as the Corybantes (Korybantes - plural).
A single one of these mythical figures would be called Corybas (Korybas - singular).
The Corybantes were armed, armoured, and crested helmet wearing dancers, who acted as the priests and guardians of the Phrygian goddess Cybele (the Earth Mother).
In some myths, the term is also traced back to an individual named Corybas, a mythical son of Cybele who gave his name to the entire group.
The Corybantes were famous for performing wild, loud, and frenzied ritual dances.
They leaped rhythmically while violently clashing their spears, swords, and shields together.
According to Greek mythology, they used this noisy dance for a critical purpose;
When the infant gods Zeus (and later Dionysos) were babies, they had to be hidden from hostile forces.
The Corybantes surrounded the infant gods and engaged in their loud, clanging sword-dances specifically to drown out the sound of the babies crying, keeping them safe from discovery.
Because of their wild movements, the word corybantic entered the English language to describe anything that is frenzied, agitated, or wildly unrestrained.
When 19th century botanist Richard Salisbury looked at a helmet orchid, he thought the curved, hood-like petal perfectly mirrored the crested, protective helmets worn by these mythical Greek dancers.
The word hispidus literally translates to "bristly," "shaggy," "hairy," or "rough", and stems from the Latin verb hispere, which means "to be bristly."
The first year I got these tubers I only got leaves before they were chewed by snails.
This time around I'm happy to see at least one of them flower!
I grow these in my a mix of native potting mix, perlite, mini orchid bark, and horticultural sand, but i may change up the mix a bit for next year to see if there's any improvement in tuber multiplication.
I have chosen to opt out of using any leaf mulch, and used a plastic cup to cover the top of the pot and it has worked extremely well in keeping the flower safe and humidity levels up with our Victorian weather conditions flatulating from high to low.
When I get around to unpotting the tubers for dormancy, I'll check if this way of cultivating was beneficial in harvesting more tubers or not, but until then I'm pretty happy to flower this species on my second year!
