Christmas Island Botanical Postage Stamps

Date of issue: 16 August 1994
Designer: Celia Rosser
Printer: McPherson's Printing Group, Mulgrave

Part of a series of five stamps on indigenous orchids

Plant: Brachypeza archytas

Family: ORCHIDACEAE

Ridley's Orchid, Sage Orchid

The stem of the orchid is hidden by a bunch of aerial roots, the 4-5 leaves are 10-22 cm long. A flower-stem 15-35 cm long supports many densely spaced small white flowers.
It is endemic to Christmas Island, grows as an epiphyte on trees and is relatively common.