Orchids are found in a wide range of habitats. One such habitat is the littoral zone or more simply the seaside. The following information is taken from the NOSSA’s CD/DVD South Australia’s Native Orchids 2011.
The Littoral Zone
Many orchid species have a linear distribution following the coastline. Here on the leeward side of sandhills the air is usually moist and mild, few frosts occur so close to the sea and sea-fogs in winter will cause water to drip into the sand which easily soaks up both the moisture and the extra nutrients provided by sea-spray. Some of the best known coastal orchids include the gnats Cyrtostylis robusta, pink fairies Caladenia latifolia, coast onion-orchids, Microtis arenaria and coastal helmet orchids Corysanthes expansa as well as C. despectans. All of these are colony forming species, mostly because the windblown sand would soon cover ‘single plant’ species which start to appear after the second line of dunes.
Coastal species can be a few kilometres from the sea but there are several that grow either at the high tide mark, within sight or sound of the sea or in coastal dunes. Apart from the ones already mentioned above, the following are some others that can potentially be found within sight and sound of the sea.
Each year the Australian Orchid Foundation has an orchid essay competition. The topic for 2014 Essay Competition was Our Favourite Orchid. The orchid featured, unsuprisingly, was the Flying Duck Orchid, Caleana major. The authors were K Yin and Sau-wan Chan. It is an interesting story and well worth the read of their discovering the delights of this unique Australian orchid.
It all started with the arrival of an email from Sau-wan’s sister who lives in Hong Kong with an article about the Flying Duck Orchid. The article contained lovely pictures of this orchid taken from different angles. It stated that this orchid from Down Under was as unique to the Australian flora as the kangaroo and platypus were to the Australian fauna. The orchid even had a stamp from Australian Post released in its honour! The email ended with the question asking us if we had seen the orchid. This really presented a serious challenge to us and we were both embarrassed and curious by this – embarrassed because of the fact that we had neither seen nor even heard of this orchid after having lived in Australia for nearly 40 years. We love the Australian bush and regard ourselves as having at least above average knowledge of Australian flora and fauna amongst our friends. … Read More
[Primary source material is the NOSSA Journals. Direct quotes from the Journal in blue and additional information in black.]
Sometimes gleanings take much time and effort to locate but other times there is an abundance of information just waiting to be picked up. This was the case when searching the Journal for information on Harold Goldsack.
Upon the death of Dr R S Rogers, Harold Goldsack became the leading authority of South Australian orchids. To quote Peter Hornsby (1977), NOSSA’s first editor, “Harold is undoubtedly the most experienced of our native orchid botanists and knows more of the history of our orchids than anyone alive.”
Though not a foundational member, Harold was one of NOSSA’s early members, joining at the end of 1977. He was both a grower of epiphytes – winning the Champion epiphyte for 1982 (Dendrobium x gracillimum) and terrestrials – producing the first greenhood hybrid, Pterostylis Cutie (baptistii x cucullata) which was registered on 5th March, 1982. At the meetings he gave talks, plant commentaries and judged the orchids. Outside of the meetings he was active in advancing the cause of Australian orchids. His enthusiasm influenced many people, one person being a young Mark Clements, current Research Scientist, Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, CSIRO, Canberra.
It is not surprising than that in 1984 he was made NOSSA’s second life member.
Bob Bates wrote an informative biography in Harold’s obituary.
Journal 1989 Volume 13 No 4 May
Vale Harold Goldsack.
It is with sadness that we announce the passing of life member Harold Goldsack on April 25th. Our sympathies to his family.
Harold was born in East Bengal, India on 27th June 1908. He once told how he could remember epiphytic orchids blooming outside the bedroom window of his childhood home.
His family moved to Adelaide in 1916 and he attended Princes College as a boarding student.
He was introduced to South Australian orchids in bushland adjacent his family’s orchard at Coromandel Valley using Rogers “Introduction to the Study of South Australian Orchids” to identify these. Harold in 1924 introduced himself to Dr Rogers and they became good friends. Harold soon began to find orchids that were new to Dr Rogers and this fired his enthusiasm so that he began a serious study of our orchid flora.
One day in 1928 on a visit to Dr Rogers, Harold was shown the very first collection of the underground orchid Rhizanthella gardeneri. This was to be the subject of the last article Harold wrote over 50 years later.
With the passing of Dr Rogers in 1942 Harold became the foremost authority on South Australian orchids corresponding regularly with H M R Rupp, W H Nicholls and A W Dockrill. His extensive collection of pressed orchids was donated to the State Herbarium in 1978.
Harold wrote many articles on orchids his best known being “Common Orchids of South Australia” which appeared in the S Aust Naturalist in June 1944 and was used in “National Parks and Wild Life Reserves” book from 1965-1970. Harold also revised the orchid section of Black’s “Flora S Australia” in 1943.
Besides drawing and photographing the S Aust orchids Harold developed a large personal Orchid Library and cultivated many Australian orchids which he displayed at shows including our NOSSA shows. The first registered Pterostylis hybrid Ptst. Cutie was made by Harold and the name given to the original clone now grown by hundreds of orchid lovers is “Harolds Pride!”
His main interest was to enthuse others to see the beauty and value of our native orchids through his articles and the many illustrated talks he gave to natural history groups.
Harold was a member of the Royal Society of S Australia.
He was a Foundation Member of the Australian Native Orchid Society. (ANOS)
Ever ready for a challenge Harold at age 64 began studying for his Engineering and Surveying Certificate gaining distinctions in Maths, then working on the surveying of the S E Freeway.
Harold Goldsack’s name is commemorated in the South Australian endemic orchid Prasophyllum goldsackii, a fitting tribute to a true orchid lover.
R Bates
Prasophyllum goldsackii – Photographer Ken Bayley
Bibliography of Papers by Harold Goldsack
Orchids of Coromandel Valley – SA Naturalist XIV, Nov 1932 PP 12 – 15
Notes on Caladenia Catifolia – R Br SA Naturalist XV, March 1934, pp 59 – 63
National Park of South Australia – Field Naturalists Sect. of Royal Soc of SA 1936, Being Vol XVII, Nos 1 to 4 of SA Naturalist pp 52 – 54 Orchids
Common Orchids of South Australia – SA Naturalist XXII June 1944 PP 1 – 12 with line drawings of 52 species
New Orchid Records for South Australia – SA Naturalist XXII June 1944, p 13
National Park and Reserves – Commissioners of the National Park, Sept 1956 pp 59 – 79 with line drawings of 52 species of Orchids, p 195 Distribution and flowering times of orchids in the National Park and Reserves
SA National Parks and Wild Life Reserves – Commissioners of the National Park and Wild Life Reserves, March 1964, pp 46 – 64 Orchids with line drawings of 52 species, pp 189 – 199. Distribution and Flowering times of Orchids in the National Park and Reserves
Orchids of the National Park and Wild Life Reserves – Reprinted 1965 by Field Naturalists Society, if (sic) SA from “SA National Parks and Wild Life Reserves” with permission of the Commissioners of the National Park and Wild Life Reserves
Blacks’ Flora of South Australia – Revised edition of p1, 1946 Assisted Rev H M R Rupp and W H Nicholls with the revision of the Orchidacea
Pollination of Caladenia deformis R Br – R S Rogers transactions of Royal Society of SA Volume LV Oct 1931 The pollination of Caladenia deformis as observed by H G was written up by Dr R S Rogers in an article for the Royal Society of SA
Rhizanthella gardnerii R S Rogers – The Orchadian p 113 Sept 1979 A note about the discovery of this orchid
Following is the article by Harold Goldsack referred to by Bob Bates in Harold’s obituary. Though he wrote for other publications, this was appears to be the only one in the NOSSA Journals.
Journal 1979 Volume 3 No 8 August
RHIZANTHELLA GARDNERI Rogers Harold Goldsack
Corrigin, Shackleton, Goomalling, Munglingup. Western Australia.
A new locality where the subterranean orchid Rhizanthelle gardneri Rogers has been found, as noted by Don Voigt in his letter to Roy Hargreaves to brings with it hope that after 50 years the secret life of the remarkable orchid may be unveiled. It also brings back memories of my first encounter with this plant.
As a young orchid enthusiast I had been collecting for, and writing to, Dr R.S. Rogers of Adelaide, who, at that time, was an extremely busy public personality. To my surprise, one day in 1928 I received a note from Dr Rogers inviting me to call at his house in Hutt Street after surgery hours as he had something to show me which he was sure would be of interest.
Naturally, I took the first opportunity to visit the Doctor, whereon he brought into the room a large jar with some white vegetable pickled in it. With a smile he said “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
Well, there it was – this unique subterranean orchid from Corrigin, Western Australia, sent over by Mr C A Gardiner, the Government Botanist of Perth, who had realised the importance of this discovery.
The first plants were found in an area of virgin lane that had been rolled, burnt and then ploughed, which operation uncovered the white underground rhizomes. Mr John Trott, the discoverer, was puzzled by this strange plant growing around the stumps of Melaleucauncinata R Br, common in the area, and sent it to Mr C A Gardiner. He, realizing the orchidaceous nature of the plant, visited the area, made personal observations and then sent a specimen to Dr Rogers for study, which led to the description of a now sub-tribe, genus and species of orchid – Rhizanthella gardneri Rogers.
Soon after this the Field Naturalists Society were to hold their Wild Flower Show in the Adelaide Town hall and attempted to have this unique specimen displayed there. However, the plant was too valuable to risk and an artist – Mr Lyall Lush – made a black and white drawings which was exhibited instead.
Within three years, on the east coast of Australia at Bulahdelah, another subterranean orchid Cryptanthemis slateri Rupp was unearthed. Unearthed is the word, for this one was unearthed by Mr Slater who was digging up rhizomes of Dipodium punctatum, the “Wild Hyacinth”, to attempt to grow them. All plants of the new orchid were found growing in association Dipodium. The importance of this find was such that Rev H I R Rupp was given a grant to travel to Bulahdelah to make further studies. This second find aroused worldwide interest and a German botanist suggested that the flowers of Cryptanthemis slateri were underground spikes of Dipodium. The morphology of the flowers soon disproved that theory.
Regarding this orchid, which Rupp named in 1932, Dr Rogers commented to me that he was sure that Rev Rupp’s parishioners must have had a very brief sermon the week Rupp received the first specimen of Cryptanthemis!
Dr Rogers then lamented that the orchid hunter has to add a plough and a pick to his orchid collecting equipment!!
November’s theme was hybrids. Orchids, more than any other plant family, are likely to produce natural hybrids. Even though the overall occurrence of natural hybridisation in orchids is low, it occurs often enough to make some species identification challenging.
Hybrids mainly occur between species of the same genera such as Jenny Pauley’s Arachnorchis brumalis x A. conferta
Arachnorchis brumalis x A. conferta
but, less commonly, it can occur between genera as seen with Pauline Meyer’s Caladenia latifolia x A. brumalis
Caladenia latifolia x Arachnorchis brumalis
and her Western Australian photograph of Caladenia x enigma; a hybrid between C. falcata and Drakonorchis barbarossa.
Caladenia x enigma
Jones (2006) states that “Natural hybrids are more common in some genera, such as Arachnorchis, Caladenia and Diuris, than in others.” To this list could be added Thelymitra as seen with both of the winning pictures T. x truncata and T. x irregularis. Interestingly with these two hybrids, the parents are not always the same; the parents for T. irregularis could be T. ixiodies or T. juncifolia with either T. carnea or T. rubra.
Thelymitra x irregularis
A similar situation occurs with T. truncata with the parents consisting of T. juncifolia and any member of the T. pauciflora (including T. albiflora, T. arenaria, T. bracteata, T. brevifolia, T. cyanapicata, T. pauciflora) or of the T. nuda complex.
Thelymitra x truncata
The conditions necessary for hybridisation are that the parents must grow in the same area, have overlapping flowering time and share the pollinator. Brown et al (2103) make the additional observation – Hybrids are more common between wasp and bee-pollinated species than between two wasp-pollinated species or two bee-pollinated species. … However, rare hybrids between species using the same pollination strategies, do occasionally occur …
Obviously hybridisation is more likely to occur when there is an abundance of the parent species. This situation can occur when there is mass flowering following fires or good seasonal rains. Site disturbances either through natural causes or clearing can result in increased incidence of hybridisation.
Hybrids are often infertile and will only last for the life of the individual plant but some have the ability to reproduce vegetatively and, provided the conditions remain favourable, may persist for several years.
One situation that can occur is hybrid swarm. When these occur they can make orchid identification challenging. Hybrids share the characteristic of both parents and by careful observation this can be deduced but swarms introduce an added complexity because the hybrid can backcross with either of the parents or cross fertilise with themselves. The result is a wide range of variation which makes orchid identification difficult.
Finally, some orchids will not hybridise even though the conditions are right. This could be due to specific pollinator or possibly chemical or genetic barriers.
References:
Brown et al (2013) Field Guide to the Orchids of Western Australia, Floreat, WA, Simon Nevill Publications
Jeans, Jeffrey & Backhouse, Gary (2006) Wild Orchids of Victoria, Seaford Vic, Aquatic Photographics
Jones, David (1988) Native Orchids of Australia, Frenchs Forest, NSW, Reed Books
Jones, David (2006) A Complete Guide to Native Orchids of Australia including the Islands and Territories, Frenchs Forest, NSW, Reed New Holland
In the disc South Australia’s Native Orchids, 2011, no orchid has the common name of Christmas Orchid but there are several listed that could be a possible candidate. The ones that springs to mind are from the genus Dipodium. In South Australia, there are four species flowering at this time:
Dipodium pardalinum – Note the yellow staining on the bud and no stripes on the labellum
All four are in flower now – D. campanulatum and D. punctatum in the South East and D. roseum and D. pardalinum in the Southern Lofty Ranges.
There have been other orchids which would have flowered over the Christmas period but in recent days we are have been having an increasing number of dry year, especially this year (2015) which has resulted in the orchids flowering earlier. For example, Prasophyllum murfetii
Prasophyllum murfettii (Denzel’s Leek Orchid)
finished flowering in November instead of December and Thelymitra circumsepta
Thelymitra circumsepta (Naked Sun Orchid). This photograph was taken on the 28th December 2010
finished flowering in early December but has been seen in flower soon after Christmas Day.
So does South Australia have a Christmas Orchid? Until 1991, D. roseum was included under D. punctatum and the common name according to Bates and Weber 1990 was Christmas Orchid. It seems a pity that when the split was made that neither species retained the common name but nevertheless as they both flower at Christmas, we do have a Christmas Orchid or two!
Reference:
Bates R J, Ed, 2011 South Australia’s Native Orchids, NOSSA
Bates R J & Weber J Z, 1990 Orchids of South Australia
This article is reprinted from Volume 39 No 11 December 2015 Native Orchid Society of South Australia Inc. Journal
Tuber Repotting Time is here
Les Nesbitt
Now that Australian terrestrial orchids have gone into dormancy it is time to think about repotting and preparing for the next growing season.
The best months for this activity are December and January.
I will limit this discussion to the easily grown colony forming terrestrial orchids as these are more likely to be available – for easily grown terrestrials, click here.
IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF GROWING SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ORCHIDS
We need more terrestrial growers in NOSSA to feed the tuber bank and to supply spare pots for sale to the public at the Spring Show. I found it embarrassing to see so few terrestrials for sale at the 2015 Spring Show compared to the numbers available in years gone by.
Growing terrestrials is a rewarding hobby that does not take up much time or space and will pay for itself. Plus you are doing something effective orchids and the environment even if only the most common terrestrials are grown (eg the greenhoods and onion orchids). Consider easily grown, fast multiplying, Pterostylis curta (listed as rare in the SA Act) has been widely grown in NOSSA collections since the days Roy Hargreave’s wash trough when NOSSA was formed.
Once the basic principles are understood it to move onto the rarer species as artificially propagated plants become available in future as they surely will. Members can draw on the tuber bank in December to get started seriously about it as a group of volunteers will be needed within a year or two to help look after the output of a number of projects already underway or about to start.
Year 8 girls at Kildare College have been repotting the school’s terrestrial collection and this is how they did it.
EQUIPMENT
Prepare all the materials needed including:
Pots
crocking material,
sand
organic matter
blood & bone, native compost, chopped up sheoak needles
4B pencil and labels.
PREPARATION
Water the pots lightly a day or two before repotting. The mix should be damp enough to not be dusty, yet dry enough to not stick to everything.
Remove the label, wash it in a container of water and stand it aside to dry.
Check on the label back to see how many tubers were planted last year.
REPOTTING
Scrape off and dump the top layer of soil as this can be contaminated with moss, slimy bacteria and liverworts.
Tap out the plug of soil into a sieve sitting on a bowl. Pick out any tubers that are visible on the outside of the plug.
Gently break the soil apart and search for tubers while squashing the lumps of mix through the sieve.
Very small tubers may go through especially with Corybas. If you have not got a sieve do this operation on a sheet of newspaper.
Place the tubers in a dish so they do not roll away.
Count the new tubers to see whether they increased by 2, 3 or 4 times.
Discard anything left in the sieve (old tubers, roots etc.).
Work out how many new pots are needed to plant all the new tubers.
Add to the old mix in the bowl
a pinch of blood & bone,
a handful of sand and a handful of native potting mix.
Also add enough of these ingredients for each additional pot and mix the contents of the bowl together.
Select new or sterilised 125 mm standard pots
and place a square of shadecloth in the bottom to keep the sand in and critters out.
Pour in mix to within 30 mm of the top and ram down with your fist.
Place up to 10 tubers on top of the mix.
Lay tubers horizontally if unsure which is the top.
Labelling and finishing the task
Write out the orchid name on extra labels and fill in the numbers of tubers on the back for each pot.
Almost fill the pot with mix and tamp down.
Insert the label. Place a layer of cut sheoak needles on top of the mix.
Water the pots and the job is done.
For show pots use 175 mm or larger pots and plant 20 to 50 of the largest tubers available.
If the tubers have decreased or look unhealthy, throw out all the old mix and replant in new mix.
This week there was a workshop South Lofty Block Orchid Recovery Project with representatives from Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management, SA Water, Forestry SA, Park Rangers, Threatened Plant Action Group and NOSSA. Many issues were discussed. One issue briefly discussed was the development of unofficial bike and walking tracks in parks and the negative impact that this would have on rare and endangered orchids.
This issue is not unique to Australia, the American Orchid Society whose mantra is Education, Conservation and Research published in their journal Orchid February 2008 a summary article titled Watch Your Step: Possible Consequences of Walking off the Trail. The authors are Maryilyn H.S. Light and Michael Mcconaill and the original paper can be found in the Lankesteriana 7:294 – 298 Click on the titles to read the articles.
The researchers studied the effects of visiting a site once a day and standing in the same spot for 10 minutes ie the effects of trampling. Their research suggested that there are possible longer term consequences as they found that the effects of compaction was still observable 18 months later. This does not seem like much but it was sufficient for them to offer some advice such as
stay on the tracks,
don’t walk on the side as even walking on the side of the track can result in unintended damage as the track is widened,
when one person walks off the track others are likely to follow
think carefully of the consequences before walking off the track
where possible step on rocks, not soil
The research was carried out in Canada and though there are differences between the two countries, there are so many similarities it is worth our while to take note of their advice.
Possibly there is scope for research here in South Australia but in the meantime their summary sentence says it all – Until we know what is happening beneath our feet, we should really watch our step
Fortunately our orchids like the edges of paths and so the are easy to spot. But at the same time, trampling on the edge of the paths means that the orchids can be destroyed and so be lost forever.
The following article written by Robert and Rosalie Lawrence is from the Volume 37 No 9 October 2013 Journal of the Native Orchid Society of South Australia
Orchids and the concrete jungle that makes up a city don’t seem together, particularly the terrestrial orchids. Yet in the heart of one of the world’s most well known capital cities such an orchid was found. On the 19th July 2013, the Telegraph reported that botanists from the Natural History Museum had found in the middle of London a white helleborine orchid (Cephalanthera damasonium) which had not been seen in that region since 1900. It was found in the Queen’s backyard, Buckingham Palace. Despite the building, demolishing, rebuilding, bombing and rebuilding that has been going on for the last 400 years, here is an orchid which has survived to surprise the botanist. (For details see Long Lost orchid found in Buckingham Palace Garden)
It is always heartening to hear good news about orchids but here in Adelaide we have our own encouraging story. Settlement in Adelaide is not as long as in London by a long shot but in our own short time we have managed to clear and cover some very good land with concrete and bitumen. The result has been that much of our native flora has been lost with many of our orchid species being the first to disappear.
In recent years effort has been made to bring back the bush with revegetation projects. This work has not tended to involve the orchids, the work of Heather Whiting and her team of volunteers at Vale Park being an exception. Consequently, any orchids found on such sites tend to be the more robust species principally Pterostylis pedunculata, Microtis sp. and in some cases Linguella sp.
Finding anything else will always be special; but that is what has happened at site where a Shell petrol station stood for decades on the corner of Portrush and Greenhill Roads. After the demolition of the service station the site was an area of bare clay for about a decade. Then in 2003, work began on restoring native vegetation incorporating a mini wetland in an area of 2,000 square metres that was given the name Linden “Bush Garden”. Indigenous flora was sourced from the local region and the site has been kept meticulously weed-free by dedicated workers.
Originally 60 local species were planted with several other species arriving by themselves. Among the latter group are five species of orchids. These include a Microtis species and Pterostylis pedunculata, but the other three are more surprizing – Arachnorchis tentaculata, a small blue-flowered Thelymitra species and a Caladenia (syn Petalochilus) species. How they came to be there is a mystery. The long term viability of them will depend upon the continued maintenance of this unique site.
The City of Burnside should be congratulated both for its foresight and initiative as well as its ongoing support of this project.
Natural regeneration at Linden Gardens includes three plants of Arachnorchis tentaculata (King spider Orchid) that are understood to have flowered for the first time this year (2013). The buildings of the council chambers can be seen in the background.
Again this month was a varied selection of species with Pauline Myers’ Caladenia chapmanii (WA), Claire Chesson’s Thelymitra rubra, Jenny Pauley’s hybrid of Arachnorchis brumalis x conferta, David Hirst’s Caladenia discoidea and the winning entry, Rosalie Lawrence’s Diuris brevifolia.
This strikingly yellow flowered donkey orchid endemic to South Australia is listed as Endangered. Its range was once quite widespread in the southern Adelaide Mt Lofty Range region but now it is now restricted to pockets on the Fleurieu Peninsula and western Kangaroo Island in Heathy Woodland, Wetland and Riparian habitats.
There is interest today in cultivating orchids for conservation or ex situ conservation. With the reduced range of this species, can it be cultivated and thus continue to ensure its survival as a species? Some sources seem to suggest that it is an easy plant to cultivate, and some Diuris are easier than others, but Les Nesbitt points out that he has some plants from a rescue dig several years ago and that they have not multiplied very much in that time. This suggests that they may be dependent on a specific fungi. Though it has not been hugely successful in cultivation, it is worth noting that it has been used to produce hybrids with several other Diuris.
Reference
Bates, R. J. (2011) South Australia’s Native Orchids NOSSA DVD, Adelaide
Nesbitt, L personal communications
Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges South Australia Threatened Species Profile Fact Sheet – Diuris brevifolia
Sometimes a particular species of orchid is said to be rare or endangered, for instance Thelymitra circumsepta* is listed as endangered in South Australia but has no listing federally whilst the endemic Prasophyllym murfetii* is listed as Critically Endangered federally but only Endangered in South Australia.
Prasophyllum murfettii (Denzel’s Leek Orchid)
What do these listings mean and why are they different for the same species?
What are the Conservation Categories?
Conservation listing by governments gives species a legal status, which can then be used to determine the type of consideration to be given to individual species in decision-making processes for species conservation.
In South Australia, the two main legislations affecting native orchids are the state National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 (NPW) and the national Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPB). There is also the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List which is used for international treaties. Each has their own set of categories resulting in terms with slightly different meanings.
The IUCN classification is quite detailed but in summary the conservation status used are
Extinct – not seen for fifty years or despite intensive searching not seen at a previously known site
Extinct in the Wild – no natural populations exist; only surviving in cultivation
Critically Endangered – known only from a single non-viable population
Endangered – in danger of extinction unless the factors causing decline are arrested
Vulnerable – likely to become endangered if the only large populations is wiped out for whatever reason
Near Threatened – close to qualifying or likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future
Least Concern
Data Deficient
Not Evaluated
The Australian Federal government, under Section 179 of the EPBC Act, has six categories
Extinct – no reasonable doubt that the species has died out
Extinct in the Wild – no natural population existing, surviving in cultivation
Critically Endangered – faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future
Endangered – faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future
Vulnerable – faces a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium term future
Conservation Dependent – if the cessation of a specific conservation program ceased the species could become vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered
South Australia uses three categories based on the categories from the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.
Endangered (Schedule 7) – includes Critically Endangered Extinct in the Wild and Extinct
Vulnerable (Schedule 8)
Rare (Schedule 9) – this is a South Australian term not recognised elsewhere but the criteria are consistent with the IUCN Near Threatened category and refers to uncommon species that are naturally limited in location or are in decline. Hence it is possible for a species to be common interstate but threatened in South Australia, for example Anzybas unguiculatus* is rated rare.
Anzybas unguiculatus (Little Pelican or Cherry Helmet Orchids)
Another term that is frequently used is Threatened. For the IUCN Threatened encompasses the three categories of Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable. It means that a species rated as threatened with extinction under these three categories may have different degrees of threat – note the adjectives in the IUCN definitions above. This serves as a guideline for its usage in South Australia. It should also be noted that Threatened and Rare are not interchangeable but a species rated Rare may be threatened by outside influences.
There is another level of conservation which is the regional status. This level does not have any legal standing but it is helpful in managing the species. The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria are used to assign a regional conservation status. This is helpful in managing species at this level.
Why does a species have different Conservation Categories?
Looking through Part Two of South Australia’s Native Orchids 2011, it is not uncommon to find a species with two different conservation statuses. It is not surprising when they have the same status eg Arachnorchis behrii* is rated Endangered both state and nationally but why are the others different? Some of this is due to the different number of categories – six federally but only three at the state level so Diplodium bryophilum* is nationally Critically Endangered but only Endangered in South Australia as there is no critically Endangered category. Others have a state status but no national status, for example the endemic Diuris brevifolia* is rated Endangered. Curiously there are no endemic species with the combination of a national status but no state status, although there are five non-endemic species found in South Australia that do have this combination.
Diuris brevifolia (Late Donkey Orchid)
This comes about because there are two different bodies determining the statuses through two very different processes.
Nationally under the EPBC Act any individual can nominate a species which is assessed by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, put out for public comment, changes adjusted as necessary and then the recommendations are passed onto the Minister who approves or rejects the nomination.
In South Australia, DEWNR (Department Environment Water and Natural Resources) initiates the process by asking the experts, compiling data, holding workshops with the experts. A report is written for the National Parks and Wildlife Council outlining the changes under the NPW Threatened Species Schedules. Once the changes are approved, it is sent to the Minister for approval before being released for public comment. After any necessary adjustments the report is then sent to the South Australian Parliamentary Cabinet for final approval.
Both processes check the species under consideration against the IUCN criteria.
How many South Australian orchids are under threat?
On 22nd July 2014, Doug Bickerton presented a talk at the Native Orchid Society on the conservation status of South Australian orchids. The comparison between the State and Federal listings was as follows:
Number of Orchids with a Conservation Status under the NPW Act (State)
77 species Endangered
33 species Vulnerable
32 species Rare
A total of 142 species or 49% of all South Australian orchids are recognised to be under threat.
Number of Orchids with a Conservation Status under the EPBC Act (Federal)
4 Critically Endangered
22 Endangered
19 Vulnerable
A total of 45 species for the State have a Federal government legal conservation status.
The fact that one authority recognises a species and the other authority does not doesn’t mitigate against the seriousness of the threat to that species. The fact that a species does not have a conservation status from either authority does not mean that it is not under threat. It could still be in danger of extinction.
Cryptostylis subulata (Moose Orchid) State Conservation Status: Vulnerable National Conservation Status: not listed
Currently in South Australian there is a State-wide assessment underway and the results will be published in 2016.
This article was inspired and is based upon notes taken from a talk given by Doug Bickerton in 2014 at the Native Orchid Society of South Australia. I would like to thank Thelma Bridle, Conservation Officer, Native Orchid Society of South Australia, for her help.
*Based on information found in South Australia’s Native Orchids 2011
IUCN RED LIST CATEGORIES AND CRITERIA Version 3.1 Second edition Prepared by the IUCN Species Survival Commission As approved by the 51st meeting of the IUCN Council Gland, Switzerland 9 February 2000
NOSSA 