May’s theme was miniscule, or less than 10mm. Of the eight entries five were Corunastylis, two Spider orchids from Western Australia and one an epiphyte. The flowers of the two spiders, Caladenia pachychila (photographer Rob & Jenny Pauley) and Caladenia bryceana subsp. bryceana (Pauline Myers) were the largest of the group being about 10mm across whilst the Bulbophylum globuliforme (Ros Miller) and C. despectans (Rosalie Lawrence) were the smallest being only 2mm across.
Of the remaining Corunastyllis entries the flower size ranged from 3mm for C. pumila (Rob & Jenny Pauley), 4mm for C. tepperi (Ricky Egel), 7mm for C. ciliata (Rosalie Lawrence) and 8mm for C. morrisii (Rob & Jenny Pauley).
The winning picture C. morrisii (Bearded or Hairy Midge Orchid) is one of the larger midge orchids. Other synonyms are Prasophyllum morrisii and Genoplesium morrisii. This common species is mainly found in Victoria but it does extend into southern New South Wales in the east and in the west just spills 50 km over the border into South Australia where it is rated endangered. It also occurs in the south east of Tasmania.
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Flowering Times: Nov – May |
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| State | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | |
| Tas | √ | √ | ||||||
| NSW | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||
| Vic | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |
| SA | √ | √ | ||||||
With such a wide distribution range, it is not surprising to see quite a variation in flowering time from late spring through to autumn depending upon location.
Reference
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Genoplesium~morrisii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caladenia_pachychila
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caladenia_bryceana_subsp._cracens
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Genoplesium~pumilum
Bates, R. J., ed. (2011). South Australian Native Orchids. Electronic version, 2011. NOSSA
Wapstra, M., Roberts, N., Wapstra, H. & Wapstra, A. (2012). Flowering Times of Tasmanian Orchids: A Practical Guide for Field Botanists. Self-published by the authors (May 2012
version).
Backhouse, G., Kosky, B., Rouse, D. & Turner, J. (2016). Bush Gems: A Guide to the Wild Orchids of Victoria. Self-published by the authors
NOSSA 