Australian native terrestrial orchids

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

I thought there may have already been a topic for these, but if there is I am missing it.    If there is then feel free to combine this with the other one.

Flowering now for me as the first Aussie terrestrial to flower for 2009 is.....

Please click on the pic to enlarge.


Eriochilus cuculata.  A delightful little orchid with flowers maybe 1.5cm tall.  There are only a couple of flowers per stem, with a leaf or two at ground level.  Very cute, and a first flowering for me.

[maggiepie]

A real cutie Paul, I like the small orchids.

[Maxime_P]

Aussie orchids are so gorgeous, interesting, bizarre, varied .... ! 

Anyway, you're cheating ! You are Aussie !   

[Craig]

Nice work Paul. How have you grown it ?

[Paul T]

Craig,

In a pot in a shadehouse for a bit of protection.  Kept pretty dry over summer, then comes straight out of dormancy into flower.  I was incorrect in my description in the original posting too.... there are no leaves.  There is just a stem with flowers that emerges straight from the ground.  The leaves obviously follow later on.  I'm including a pic of the pot, showing the 2 flower stems.  I've used the garage wall as a background just to contrast, so no the plant is not 6 foot tall like it would have to be to be that many bricks high!    The taller of the two stems is maybe 9 or 10 inches tall.

Enjoy.

[Craig]

 

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

These aren't in my own garden, but rather in a friend's garden a few hours north of here.  The Acianthis fornicatus grows wild in his yard and surrounding bush, while the Corybas pruinosus is in a pot in his shadehouse.  The Acianthis is is about 20cm tall, while the Corybas wouldn't even be 3cm tall.  Very cute.  

31-12-09 - Changed Corybas species name to correct spelling.  Name on the photograph remains incorrect, but this way the search function can work on the correct name

[Maggi Young]

Wow! Look at the leaf surface on the Corybas! Extraordinary. 

[Joakim B]

Nice pics of interesting plant Mr T.

Hope there are more
Joakim

[Hristo]

Thanks for posting those Paul, my appetite is wetted and I hope, like Joakim, that you will have more in store for us!?

[Paul T]

Not at the moment unfortunately.  None of my Aussie terrestrials have buds as yet, although all are up and running already.  Hopefully I should have lots within the next few months.

[Eric Locke]

Paul ,do you grow Thelymitra"s too ?. Any advice on these.

Eric

[Paul T]

Eric,

Apparently they're supposed to be hard to grow (or so I have heard and read), but no-one has told mine that they shouldn't do as well as they do.    I am treating mine exactly the same as my Pterostylis, in a shadehouse in my climate, and mostly dry over summer.  I am not sure mine are going to flower this year as I didn't get a chance to repot them, but still too early to know.  Lots of offsets formed by the look of the assorted smaller leaves coming up in the pots around the larger original.  If mine never find out that they're supposed to be difficult I will be very happy.  

[Stephen Vella]

hello Eric and Paul, just to add about my observations of the local populations that grow near by. These are in NSW Bluemountains.

Thelymitra grow in a very sandy free drain soil (derived from sandstone with quarts and iron stone) with some leaf litter on top and with very little humus. They also rely on a mycrorrhizal association and without it I dont think they will grow if at all. The orchids are generally found in an open woodlands in Eucalypt forest where the light is broken up. Temps are from 42c to -10c, these are the local ones. The Western Australian ones tolerate the heat and drought alot more longer and I suspect are very difficult to grow in cultivation as they cannot withstand the humidity or having moisture at the wrong time of year. These are more colourful in reds, oranges and pinks and the NSW ones are mostly blue.

Being a sun orchid they open up when the sun is out and close at night and dont bother to open up if its raining.

Most Thyelymitra species are on the rare and endanger list and some species are extinct from over picking and digging. I dont know of any commercial nursery selling Thelymitra but I would be interested if Paul knows of any and they would likely have to be flask grown. There are local wild plant rescues nurserys that rescue native plants from the bulldozer and they do sell our local native orchids.

Hope this helps

Cheers

[Paul T]

Stephen,

Les Nesbitt does sell some Thelymitra, but I have no idea whether flask grown or divisions.  I know that some of his stuff he grows from seed (and therefore flask) but no idea of the Thelymitra.  Most of mine came from trading with people.  What is your local species?