Robert Brown (1773 -1858)
A Scottish-born and Edinburgh-trained surgeon, doctor-soldier, and the father of Australian botany; he was awarded the Copley Medal in 1839, then the world’s highest accolade in science.
Orchid species: Elythranthera brunonis (= Glossodia brunonis)
Archibald Menzies (1754 – 1842)
A British navy surgeon who circumnavigated the globe from west to east with Captain George Vancouver, in the tumultuous voyage of 1791 to 1974, explored extensively in south-west Western Australia, and was later president of the Linnean Society of London; his name is recorded in the names of banksias (including the firewood Banksia [Banksia menziesii]), orchids and mosses of the King George Sound hinterland which record his service to Australian botany.
Orchid species: Leptoceras menziesii (=Caladenia menziesii)
This orchid is the emblem of Native Orchid Society of South Australia
Having looked at the background, Professor Pearn documents the individual doctors and orchids. In the original paper the doctors were listed alphabetically but these posts will be in chronological order based upon the doctor’s year of birth.
Daniel Solander (1733 – 1782)
A medical student in Sweden and London, and botanist-librarian on the Endeavour voyage to Austalia (1769 – 1771); his name is commemorated in the names of Australian species of Aciacia, Banksia and Geraniums.
Orchid species: Orthoceras strictum (= Orthoceras solandri)
The type specimen is from New Zealand.
There were many more entries than usual this month but the winner was a photograph by David Mangelsdorf.
Looking back over the last three winners, a royal theme emerges. In April it was the elegant Queen Orchid, in May the flamboyant Queen of Sheba and this month it is the dignified Queen Spider Orchid (a statelier name than the more usual common name of Narrow Lipped Spider Orchid).
The botanical name for this species is Arachnorchis leptochila spp letptochila (syn. Caladenia leptochila). An endemic species of South Australia, it is mainly found in the Mount Lofty Ranges where it favours leached stony soils. Flowering in spring, it is easily recognised by the upswept segments and narrow labellum.
Usually these orchids are characterised by dark clubs which can be seen even in bud, but in this picture they are light coloured. This could be due to variation with the species, as occasionally pale coloured flowers have been found. Interestingly in doing an image search on the web I found none with light coloured clubs.
Actually there is more than one.
Frequently NOSSA receives a request to identify an orchid in someone’s garden. Often, instead of an orchid (but occasionally there are orchids), it is the Ariasrum vulgare (common name Friar’s Cowl Lily or Cobra Lily).
Native to Asia and Europe, notably the Mediterranean and introduced to Australia, it is often mistaken for one of the flowers of the Pterostylis (Greenhood Orchids) or Diplodium (Shell Orchids). Some have called it a Blackhood orchid others Snake Orchid. It’s resemblance to the Greenhoods and Shell Orchids is superficial as they have none of the orchid features. The dark purple hooded part is not the flower; it is a spathe (bract). The flowers are minute hidden on deep down on the “tongue”.
The hood of the orchids is the combination of a deeply concave dorsal sepal interlocking with the lateral petals; and the fusing of the two lateral sepals. Tucked away within the hood is the labellum (a modified petal) and the column (the reproductive organs of the flower). The leaves of Ariasrum are quite large and distinctly different from any of the Greenhood orchids.
If you want to see the Helmet Orchids, now it the time of year to find them. My understanding is that the time from leaf mergence to capsule is about six weeks. In the past week I’ve seen Corysanthes diemenica (Veined Helmet Orchid) both in the north and the south of the Adelaide Hills. Corysanthes incurva ( Slaty Helmet Orchid) appears slightly later, end July early August, and will now be in bud. Look for them amongst the leaf litter.
Confucius was an admirer of orchids and in this quote he captures the quality of the epiphytes in this eloquent translation*:
The orchid grows where others cannot enduring the hardships of hunger and thirst, and is loosely tied to the things that support it. And, even with all the difficulty of its life, the orchid graces the world with beautiful colour and rare fragrance. This is like the life of the true gentleman, who sets himself to learn self-discipline, and whose character shines no matter where he is or what he experiences.
Though he never saw an Australian epiphytic orchid, the description holds true as can be seen in these three pictures from among the many species found on the eastern seaboard.
*From The Fragrance of the Unread Poem by Jonathon Steffan http://www.jonathansteffen.com/the-fragrance-of-the-unread-poem/ Accessed 10:04pm 30th June 2014
Continuing Professor John Pearn’s article
Part 4
The first orchids scientifically named in the Pacific were species in the genus Thelymitra J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., a taxon raised and coined by the Forsters — the irascible Johann Reinhold Forster (1729–1798), and his son Georg Forster (1754–1794), who was 18 years old when they left on Cook’s second voyage of 1772 to 1775. The Forsters collected Thelymitra longifolia in the South Island of New Zealand in 1772 and published the name of the species in 1776. The Forsters described and named nine new species in what they termed the “Class of Orches” in the South Pacific. Georg Forster graduated in medicine in Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania) in 1784. Species of Thelymitra, which are known as the Sun Orchids, are found mainly in the south-west of Western Australia.
It should be noted that Thelymitra are found both in the east, central and the west of southern Australia.
To learn a little more about some of the orchids Professor John Pearn has mentioned, click on the links
Part 3
Early orchidology in the Asia–Pacific region
The fleshy pseudobulbs (thickened stems that serve as storage organs) of orchids have been eaten and used medicinally by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years. The first Australian orchids brought to the attention of Western science were three species of Dendrobium (D. discolor Lindley [described by John Lindley]; D. canaliculatum R.Br. [described by Robert Brown]; and D. rigidum R.Br. [described by Robert Brown]) that were collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander at the Endeavour River between 17 June and 3 August 1770. Solander had trained in medicine and botany under Linnaeus in Uppsala (Sweden) and, after 1759, in London (England). One of the plant species named after him is the Australian orchid Orthoceras solandri (also known as Orthoceras strictum).
Pauline Meyer’s winning photograph is a whole plant picture of Western Australia’s flamboyant Queen of Sheba Orchid. It was taken at Eneabba, north of Perth and identified by a local as Thelymitra variegata but in consulting the books it would appear that it is the Northern Queen of Sheba, T. pulcherrima. There are three species known as Queen of Sheba orchids in Western Australia – T. varigata, T. pulcherrima and T. speciosa.
T. variegata was originally named in 1839 by John Lindley but under the genus Macdonaldia. In 1865 Ferdinand Mueller moved it to Thelymitra, later people began to separate it out to three different species* but it wasn’t until 2009 that Jeff Jeanes describeds T. pulcherrima and T. speciosa as distinct species from T. variegata.
All three species have a single thin spiral leaf and showy multi-coloured flowers.
T. pulcherrima and T. speciosa differ from T. variegata in the following points.
| Thelymitra pulcherrima | Theylmitra speciosa | Thelymitra variegata | |
| Northern Queen of Sheba | Eastern Queen of Sheba | Southern Queen of Sheba | |
| Distribution | North of Perth between Lancelin and Dongara | Between the Stirling Range and Condingup | Between Perth & Albany with disjunct populations near Hyden |
| Flowering | late June – early September | late June – September | August to September |
| Flower numbers | 1 to 5 | 1 to 2 | 1 to 5 |
| Flower height | 150 – 350 | 100 – 200 mm | 100 – 350 mm |
| Flower size | 25 – – 35mm | 30 – 50 mm | 30 – 50 mm |
| Sepals | Yellow, red, purple and mauve | Yellow, red, purple and mauve | Deep pink purple blotched |
| Petals | Pink or purple and mauve | Pink or purple and mauve | Deep pink or purple and darker purple blotched |
NOSSA 
