Orchid Blogs

Another Summer Orchid

Just on Christmas, NOSSA received an enquiry from Tim in the South East about an orchid he had photographed.  He knew about Dipodium roseum but in 20 years he had not seen one like this one.

From the photograph that he’d sent, it was obvious that it was a Gastrodia.  In South Australia there are three species ranging in size from the smaller G. vescula (Limp Potato Orchid) through to G. sesamoides (Cinnamon Bells or Common Potato Orchid) to the larger G. procera (Tall Potato Orchid).  Whilst G. vescula and G. procera are limited in South Australia to the South East, G. sesamoides is also found in the Southern Lofty and Kangaroo Island regions.

Tim’s orchid was G. procera.  The features that set it apart from the other two were the time of year – late December whereas both G. sesamoides and G. procera would have finished flowering (and for 2014 most orchids finished flowering earlier than usual); the spike was crowded and the plant was upright but G. sesamoides has a bent or droopy spike when in bud and G. vescula is small with very few flowers.

Though Tim considered the photographs to not be very good, he’d photographed the necessary features to help with identification. Another feature seen in his picture is the warty appearance of the plant compared with the photograph of the G. sesamoides.

Gastrodia procera or Tall Potato Orchid
Gastrodia procera (Tall Potato Orchid) Note the upright spike and the ‘wartiness’
Gastrodia sesamoides (Cinnamon Bells or Common Potato Orchid)
Gastrodia sesamoides (Cinnamon Bells or Common Potato Orchid)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although it is has no conservation rating federally and may even be considered secure in the Eastern States, in South Australia it is rated endangered, so well done to Tim for spotting it!

 It was possible to identify this orchid from the information found in South Australia’s Native Orchids, an electronic book produced and sold by the Native Orchid Society of South Australia.  Identification was confirmed by one of our most knowledgeable members.

‘Tis the Season … for Dipodium

For many with Christmas and New Year holidays it is a busy time but not so with the orchids here in the Adelaide region.  The vast majority of orchids have finished flowering for the year except for a few including one of our most showy orchids, the Hyacinth Orchids (Dipodium species).  Of the four species found in South Australia, two are found in Adelaide Hills –  D. roseum or Common Hyacinth Orchid and D. pardalinum or Small-spotted Hyacinth Orchid and these will be flowering across the whole of the summer period.

Both of these Dipodium species are leafless plants that are dependent upon mycorrhizal fungi associated with stringy bark trees, either Eucalyptus obliqua or E. baxteri.  This growth requirement makes it impossible to grow in cultivation.  (Stringy bark trees can’t be grown in pots!)  The emerging stem and buds resemble an asparagus shoot.  The stems can range from a light green through to a deep dark red.  At this stage it is difficult to tell the two species apart although if there are yellowing tips on white buds it may be a clue that the plant could be D. pardalinum.

Once in flower D. roseum has a surprising range of variation  from carmine (a lightly purplish deep red) through to pink to white, with suffused rather than clearly defined spots.  On paler or white flowers these blotches may appear pale mauve-pink rather than candy-pink.   It always has a distinctive striped labellum.

Dipodium roseum composite

This feature sets it apart from D. pardalinum which has a clearly spotted labellum and in contrast to D. roseum, the flowers lack variation of colour but are consistently white with small well-defined candy spots.  (There are other Dipodium species with larger spots.)

Note the yellow staining on the bud and no stripes on the labellum
Note the yellow staining on the bud and no stripes on the labellum

And the final word, D. roseum is common but D. pardalinum is rated vulnerable in South Australia.

 

Reference: South Australia’s Native Orchids Bates 2011

2014 November Photograph Competition Part 1

11 sm CD Arachnorchis sp with hover fly

With a theme of Orchids and Insects for the November meeting it was hoped that there would be some entries with pollinators and therefore there would be two categories Insect Visitors and Pollinators. This month’s article will feature the Pollinator section and Insect Visitors in the next month.

In all there were four potential pollinator photographs. The insects were either scrounging around at the base of the column or else they had the pollinia attached to them. Unfortunately only one was a true pollinator so the category became Insects with Pollinia. The winning photograph of Arachnorchis brumalis with an unidentified hoverfly was taken by Chris Davey. Interestingly the other two pictures also featured Arachnorchis species with the hover fly Simosyrphus grandicornis. Resembling a wasp but minus the sting, this species is one of the common hover flies native to Australia.

Called Hover Flies owing to their ability to hover motionless in one spot, they are also known as Flower Flies because they are often found hovering around as well as pollinating flowers. It is not surprising, therefore, to find them around orchids. Yet instead of being called pollinators they are non-pollinators (Bates & Weber 1990). They visit the orchids, forage inside the flower and may even manage to collect some pollinia₁ but that is all. They may not necessarily visit another flower of the same species but if they do, they will fail to deliver the pollinia to the stigma2.

Rudie Kuiter agrees with Bates that hover flies are not orchid pollinators but just when we think we have worked it out he adds “but we have at least one orchid in Victoria that is pollinated by hoverflies and witnessed now several times and this is Caladenia catenata” (synonym Petalochilus catenatus). Notwithstanding the case for this species, it would appear that in most cases hoverflies remove pollinia so that it is not available to a more specific pollinator.

Why then are the hover flies attracted to the orchids? Is it for food? An internet image search revealed that hover flies visit the flowers of many different genera including Thelymitra and Diuris. This is interesting because flowers are the food source for hover flies but though many orchids promise food, many species do not produce the nectar and pollen (as a food source) that they desire. Diuris and Thelymitra belong to this group of non-nectar producing flower. Other orchids that don’t produce nectar include Gastrodia, Dipodium and the Duck orchids. Again, there are orchids such as Crytostylis which produce minimal nectar and with Prasophyllum the nectar is hidden in cells that require puncturing – not a good food source!

Having discussed hover flies as non-pollinators, in this month’s competition, which photograph had a pollinator? – It came last and was Robert Lawrence’s photograph of a native bee on a Dipodium pardalinum, another non-nectar producing orchid. The story of this photograph was featured in Photographing Orchid Pollinators, April 2014 Journal as well as in a previous blog on Photographing Pollinators.

References:

Smith James, Information Centre, South Australian Museum, personal communications

Kuiter Rudie personal communications

Bates and Weber, Orchids of South Australia, 1990

Australian Museum, http://australianmuseum.net.au/Hover-flies Accessed 4th December 2014

Brown, et al, Field Guide to the Orchids of Western Australia, 2013

Jones, Native Orchids of Australia Including the Island Territories, 2006

Bates, South Australia’s Native Orchids 2011 DVD-ROM

Martin, The Vocabulary of Orchids: An Amateur’s Perspective, 2005

1Pollinia is basically a coherent compact mass of pollen that allows the pollen to be transported as a single unit

2The stigma is a sticky depression (or swelling) at the front of the column, the receiving surface for the pollinia that is necessary for germination.

Australian Orchids & the Doctors they Commemorate Part 13 of 20

Thomas Lane Bancroft (1860 – 1933) son and Joseph Bancroft (1836 -1894)  father

Thomas Lane Bancroft is one of Australia’s greatest doctor-naturalists; he elucidated the life cycle of the lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri

Orchid Species

Sarcochilus dilatatus (= Sacrcochilus bancroftii) Brown Butterfly Orchid

ABC Gardening – Terrestrial Orchids

Back in 2013, Gardening Australia of the ABC produced a video featuring Helen Richards, a Victorian who has in-depth knowledge of growing terrestrial orchids.  Though Helen lives interstate and adaptions do need to be made for different locations and conditions, this video of her shadehouse is very instructive for any South Australian’s wanting to grow their own terrestrials.

Click here to view the video and read the text.

Pot of Thelymitra Kay Nesbitt Cultivar copy
Pot of Thelymitra ‘Kay Nesbitt’ cultivar
Pot of Arachnorchis argocalla
Pot of Arachnorchis argocalla
Pot of Caladenia latifolia cultivated by Les Nesbitt
Pot of Caladenia latifolia

Australian Orchids & the Doctors they Commenorate Part 12 of 20

Herman Beckler (1828 – 1914)

A general medical practitioner in Ipswich and Warwick (Queensland) and, after 1862, in Germany; in 1860, he travelled with the Burke and Wills expedition as a doctor–botanist and expeditioner in Victoria and New South Wales.

Orchid Species:

Dockrillia schoenina (= Dendrobium beckleri) or common name Pencil Orchid

Papillilabium beckleri or common name Imp Orchid

October 2014 Winning Photograph

 Caladenia procera

This month’s entries of Oligochaetochilus arenicola, Caladenia flava, Calochilus robertsonii , Diuris palustris and Caladenia procera illustrated the variety of shapes to be found in orchids.

All but one are reasonably common; all but one were photographed in situ and that one was the winning picture by Kris Kopicki – Caladenia procera. Its common name, Carbunup King Spider Orchid, reflects its location near Busselton Western Australia. This species has a severely limited distribution with a small population and is threatened by land clearing for development. Consequently it is rated as critically endangered.

The other aspect of this plant is that it is a photograph of a plant in a pot not the bush. Kris benched the original plant at the September Tuesday meeting when it was still in bud. By Saturday it was in glorious flower.

This picture exemplifies the two objects of NOSSA which “are to promote and engage in activities for the promotion and furtherance of:

  1. the culture, propagation, conservation, knowledge and scientific study of the native orchids of Southern Australia and the Australasian region;
  2. the preservation of orchids as a species and their preservation within their native habitat.”

Some terrestrial orchids are relatively easy to grow but not this one. It takes time patience and skill to grow them. C procera is one of the fungi dependent species and though capable of living many years, it can take up to six years before flowering, although under ideal condition it could mature in as little as two years.

Being able to grow the different terrestrial orchids is one of the ways NOSSA can help in their conservation. NOSSA has a Growers’ Forum each meeting night where members can attend and learn from experienced growers how to grow both epiphytes and, importantly, the terrestrials.

Reference:

Native Orchid Society of South Australia Inc. (NOSSA) Rules of Association 2007

Caladenia procera – Carbunup King Spider, Orchid Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT) – http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=68679 – access 6th November 2014

Remember November’s theme is Orchids and Insects (Spiders and other critters accepted as Honorary Insects)

Australian Orchids & the Doctors they Commemorate Part 11 of 20

Ferdinand Von Mueller (1825 – 1896)

A qualified pharmacist in Rostock (Germany) who emigrated to Australia in 1847 and wrote extensively on the medicinal properties of plants; he was a founder of Australian botany and published over 800 articles on botany.

Orchid species:

Habenaria ferdinandi – image and location

Taeniophyllum muelleri

NOSSA and the Lofty Block Threatened Orchid Recovery Project

In the NOSSA Constitution (2007) the aims of NOSSA “are to promote and engage in activities for the promotion and furtherance of :
  1. the culture, propagation, conservation, knowledge and scientific study of the native orchids of southern Australia and the Australasian region;
  2. the preservation of orchids as a species and their preservation within their native habitat.”

The article following is about one of the ongoing conservation activities with which NOSSA members were and are currently involved.  Quoted verbatim from SA Veg on the Edge, Vol 7, No. 1, 2007

Recovery Plan for 12 Threatened Orchids in the Lofty Block Region released
Since 1998, the Lofty Block Threatened Orchid Recovery Project (LBTORP) has been implementing recovery actions for threatened orchids in the Lofty Block region of SA. In late 2006, a draft recovery plan was completed for the following twelve species:
  • Caladenia argocalla (White Beauty Spider-orchid) – ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
  • C. behrii (Pink-lipped Spider-orchid) – ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
  • C. gladiolata (Bayonet Spider-orchid) – ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
  • C. sp. ‘Brentwood’ (Ghost Spider-orchid) – Nominated as CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
  • C. macroclavia (Large-club Spider-orchid) – ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
  • C. rigida (White Spider-orchid) – EPBC Act – ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
  • C. woolcockiorum (Woolcock’s Spider-orchid) – VULNERABLE (EPBC Act)
  • C. xantholeuca (Flinders Ranges Spider-orchid) – ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
  • Pterostylis bryophila (Hindmarsh Valley Greenhood) – CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
  • P. cucullata (Leafy Greenhood) – VULNERABLE (EPBC Act)
  • P. despectans (Lowly Greenhood) – ENDANGERED  (EPBC Act)
  • P. sp. ‘Halbury’ (Halbury Greenhood) – ENDANGERED (EPBC Act)
The recovery plan describes each of these twelve species in detail including their morphology, distribution, population size, habitat, and ecology.  Importantly, it also outlines the threats to each species and prescribes recovery objectives, targets, and actions for the next five years.
  • Determine population size and trends
  • Determine current extent of occurrence and number of sub-populations
  • Mitigate threats to sub-populations.
Recovery actions will be implemented for each of the twelve species in accordance with the recovery plan over the next five years by the LBTORP.  Community involvement is recognised as a key factor in the successful delivery of on-ground recovery actions.
Fact sheets and a webpage that provide up to date information on the program were recently completed … Joe Quarmby, Lofty Block Threatened Orchid Recovery Project Officer , SA DEH
(NB Joe Quramby now is the Threatened Flora Ecologist Natural Resources, Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges Partnerships and Stewardship and DEH is now Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, 2014)

The article may be seven years old but it is a good overview of some of the conservation work that NOSSA members have done with Joe Quarmby.

The full 176 page report can be found here.

 

Arachnorchis behrii (Pink Lipped Spider Orchid)
Arachnorchis behrii (Pink Lipped Spider Orchid)

 

Orchid Season

South Australia has some very interesting and unique orchids but it is not always possible see them  either because one cannot get out to see them or the season has been poor with inadequate rain at the right time.  So, one of NOSSA’s member has produced a video.  It starts in autumn and goes through to summer.

So sit back and enjoy ……