With the development of cities here in Australia, many of our orchids were lost as habitat was cleared and the newly arrived settlers built houses and reconstructed the gardens they knew from the Old World; but the odd pocket of native bushland has survived. Cemeteries and golf courses have often been the only refuge for remnant bushland. One such refuge has been The Pinery, Grange Golf Club, the only known location of Oligochaetochilus arenicola (syn. Pterostylis arenicola) on the Adelaide Plains. In the National Parks and Wildlife Act, this orchid is scheduled as vulnerable. The Golf Club left this site intact and has been supportive of the conservation efforts of the Threatened Plant Action Group who in turn have received assistance from the Native Orchid Society of SA and the Natural Resources Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges.
Photographer: H Lawrence
Below is a media release from the Natural Resources, Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges
Orchids come in ‘under par’ at Grange Golf course
30 September 2015
A tiny remnant population of rare orchids which survives in a patch of bush on Grange Golf Course has increased 50% since last year, according to a new survey.
The survey conducted this month found 1200 individuals of the Sandhill Greenhood Orchid (Pterostyllis arenicola), a nationally threatened species which is considered critically endangered in the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges region.
When surveys began 20 years ago, only about 100 plants survived at this site. But the latest survey has revealed the population is steadily increasing
The orchid comeback is thanks to decades of care by four groups involved with the annual survey: the Threatened Plant Action Group, the Native Orchid Society of SA, Natural Resources Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges, and with support from the Grange Golf Club.
The tiny fragment of native pine bushland in the middle of Grange Golf Course is one of the only known locations of this species within the entire Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges region, with other small populations known from near Wellington and Tailem Bend.
The orchid grows 10cm-25 cm high and produces hood-shaped flowers that are green and brown or red-brown with white markings. Most species of orchid flower for only a short period and for the Sandhill Greenhood, it will flower only for the next few weeks.
Grange Golf Course just happens to provide ideal conditions for the plant: red sandy soils and an over-story of native cypress pine trees.
Dedicated project partners have tackled the main threat to orchids – suffocation by Perennial Veldt Grass and Soursob weeds – through years of patient hand weeding.
The orchid comeback is a great success story of collaboration across the community to save one of our state’s tiny floral gems.
As a demonstration of nature’s interdependence, conserving the Sandhill Greenhood also means conserving a particular mycorrhizal fungus that must be in the soil for Sandhill Greenhood seeds to germinate. In addition, the flowers must be pollinated by a particular type of insect, the fungus gnat. The gnat is attracted by the orchid’s pheromones and tries to mate with the flower, only to find itself loaded up with a packet of pollen which it then transfers to the next flower as it continues its romantic adventures.
While the survey results are good news, the Sandhill Greenhood population is still precariously small, and it is hoped that as the population grows, so do the options to secure the species into the future.
South Australia has over 260 species of orchids, including 50 species of greenhood.
For a free colourful field guide to local orchids, go to http://www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au/adelaidemtloftyranges/home and search for ‘orchid’.
NOSSA 