Quiet times inside the Robertson Nature Reserve

Yesterday afternoon I took a half-hour (or so) to capture some images within the Robertson Nature Reserve, as the light was favourable.

Lovely shafts of bright light penetrate the dense Rainforest Canopy, in places, and then might illuminate just one feature, such as a clump of moss growing on a vine, heading up through the trees. 

Moss on Vine stem, illuminated by a shaft of light

When a single shaft of light illuminates an otherwise seemingly insignificant feature on Nature, like this, you can then realise how beautiful the entire Reserve is, IF ONLY WE COULD ALL LEARN TO APPRECIATE ITS FEATURES.

Entrance to the Robertson Nature Reserve

One of the useful explanatory signs

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first report of
the Tangle Orchid, (Plectorrhiza tridentata) growing in the Robertson Nature Reserve,
although it is reported elsewhere in the district.
It is classed as a "Twig Epiphyte"
usually growing on small branches or low to medium shrubs.

Defying Gravity?
Here you can see it hanging from its roots
which have grown into the bark of the tree above.
These flimsy attachments are in fact quite sturdy

and their flexibility gives them surprising resilience.

Defying Gravity?
Tangle-root Orchid (Plectorrhiza tridentata)

Open ground, covered with ferns.

Young vines scrambling up towards the light

The dark brown, fibrous Tree Fern trunk, embedded in the trunk of the Possumwood is all that remains to reveal the origins of the Possumwood. 

A Tree Fern trunk once formed a "seed bed" for a seedling of a Possumwood.

Quintinia sieberi
The Possumwood roots then grew down to the ground and having arrived at a rich nutrient source, then grow strong, and eventually took over and out-competed the Tree Fern.

The Possumwood bark is distinctively knobbly and is a blue-green colour.
That distinctive colour comes from algae which like to grow on certain rainforest tree trunks.

Dark brown trunk of a dead Tree Fern
reveals the origins of the Possumwood Tree.

Another epiphytic Orchid, Dockrillia pugioniformis
Dagger Orchid (named for the shape of the leaves)

Kangaroo Ferns growing up along
a leaning trunk of a tree.

A colony of small Fungi growing out of
a moss-covered log, on the ground.

Even small trees like this can have hollows
which are habitat for native animals.
One evening I came face to face with
a "Bush Rat" inside this hollow tree trunk.

Papillilabium beckleri - the Imp Orchid

Papillilabium beckleri otherwise known as the Imp Orchid, grows in the southern end of the Royal National Park. Alan Stephenson and I went in search of it several weeks ago, and while we found plants (or Alan did and I hobbled along behind), the flowers were not quite open.

Recently, I went back there with Colin and Mischa and we found a good number of these tiny plants and, happily they were fully open. When I say fully open, the "head" of the flower (the open part) in each case is about the size of a match head. I kid you not.

Papillilabium beckleri

The structure of these flowers is that the dorsal sepal is the brightly coloured part, the labellum has two green dots, facing the front. PlantNET says: "Labellum rigidly attached to tip and margins of column foot, forming a prominent, backward-pointing spur."

In my photo, you can see the white tube in the middle of the flower. It seems from the PlantNET description that the tube is part of the labellum which leads to the "spur" which is where there is a nectary. The "spur" is the long green structure below the main part of the flower. It looks like it is a foot of the flower, but in the next image, you can see that the flower is connected to the stem from the back of the flower. The "Spur" is in fact a blind tube (behind or technically "below") the flower. This is clearly visible in the following lateral image.

Apparently these flowers are intensely fragrant, but I could not detect it. They are minute after all, and mostly were out of range of my nose (hanging above head-height, mostly, on delicate thread-like roots which we did not want to touch for fear of damaging them).

Here is the botanical illustration from PlantNET

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This plant is on its southerly limit in the Waterfall end of the Royal, but it is apparently a common plant in south-east Queensland. You can see the Kabi ANOS page here which tells you a bit more about this species. They have an excellent close-up photo of the flower.

Papillilabium beckleri - single flower super-cropped

Papillilabium beckleri - a full spray of  flowers

Here is an indication of how really small they are.

You can see some dead twigs,

and then a root of the Orchid dangling down

then there are several leaves,

and a spray of flowers hanging down.

The word "tiny" doesn't begin to cover it.

The generic description of this type of growth habit 

is "Twig Epiphyte".***

Go figure.
This life-style defies all human logic.

Twig Epiphyte Papillilabium beckleri hanging by its own root.

Below, you can see Misha photographing this almost invisible plant.

Mischa photographing one of the Imp Orchids

Colin photographing the same plant.

Leaves and flowers of Papillilabium beckleri

And another plant of Papillilabium beckleri

*** "An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant (such as a tree) non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object, derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it". Source: Wikipedia

Locally, the only other Orchid to fit that description is the Tangle-root Orchid.

In the Shoalhaven, Sarcochilus hillii also grows in this manner. 

Unlike these tiny "Twig Epiphytes", most other local Epiphytic Orchids attach themselves to reasonably sturdy branches. But even so, life as an epiphytic plant is precarious, being dependent upon the security of the branch or tree on which the epiphytic plant is growing. 

But Twig Epiphytes are ridiculously fragile, by virtue of the weakness of the twig to which they are attached. In fact, the Orchid roots often end up supporting broken off twigs, complete with the leaves and flowers of the tiny Orchid, actually out living their original host twig.

ANOS spring tour of Shoalhaven

Yesterday was our annual Spring tour of the Shoalhaven region for the Australasian Native Orchid Society.

It was an Australasian tour as well, with Ian Chalmers (from Sydney), Editor of the Orchadian, and the National Registrar of Judges - John Creeggan (from New Zealand) and his wife, joining us on the tour.

So many plants, so little time...

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Today I will simply name the main species we found.

Pterostylis baptistii in profile

Pterostylis baptistii from front, showing the pollinia behind the labellum

 

Pterostylis baptistii - my favourite image

That photo was taken with a flash held below the camera,

giving great light into the low end of the flower.

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from the sublime to the ridiculously minute .

Oxysepalum shepherdii (formerly Bulbophyllum)

Oxysepalum shepherdii

Petalochilus carnea (formerly Caladenia)

Dockrillia pugioniformis The Dagger Orchid

Some not quite open Dockrillia striolata flowers

A pure white form of  Petalochilus carneus

And again, from the side.

Prasophyllum elatum

A look-alike for Pterostylis pedunculata, Pt erecta

Pterostylis erecta from the rear. Note spider legs poking out from flower

Pterostylis erecta from side

Sarcochilus falcatus

Petalochilus hillmanii

Twin flowers of Petalochilus hillmanii

Oligochaetochilus rufus bud - just about to open.

So, as you can imagine, we returned home exhausted, but happy.

Orchids from the Shoalhaven wet gullies

By contrast with the Orchids from yesterday which grow on dry Sandstone ridge country (well, not really dry, because of the relatively high rainfall, but well drained at least), today I will show a few Orchids from a mere 10 Km away, but in a totally different environment.

Budgong Creek can be accessed via the Budgong Fire Trail (off the Tallowa Dam Road in Kangaroo Valley). Yesterday it was pretty rough, I must admit. There is a better road up and over the ridge of Mt Scanzi - which road leads off the Tallowa Dam Road closer to Kangaroo Valley; or if one is coming from Nowra, turn off the Highway at the Shoalhaven River, and follow Illaroo Road.

Anyway, in the deep gully there, the forest is a combination of Eucalypts, Coachwood and some Grey Myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia). The rocks in the edges of the gullies there are coated in moss and lichen and various native creepers, including a very small native Peperomia. Probably Peperomia tetraphylla, but I have not checked it out for sure.

The other plant of note on the rocks was a Plectranthus - a blue flowered relative of the Salvia tribe. Probably Plectranthus parviflorus.
When I talk about rocks, I am talking about rocks as large as houses, which have either been eroded or degraded, or maybe some have tumbled down the hills from higher above.

One has to be very careful when scrambling around in this country, for the dead branches lying around are half rotten, usually, and there is deep leaf litter everywhere, so crevices between rocks can be covered over, and look solid, but are traps for the unwary. I am not a happy rock climber at the best of times. When tired, and it is getting cold and dark, that is not a good situation. I worked my way down into the creek bed, very carefully and was quite relieved to be safely back in the car, and heading for home. At least I did not encounter any Leeches yesterday.

On very protected faces of mossy rocks
there were carpets of this Orchid.
That makes it a "lithophyte"
growing ON rocks (amongst mosses),
but not parasitic in any sense.
It used by known as Bulbophyllum shepherdii.
These days it is called Oxysepala shepherdii

This plant grows just as happily on dead trees.
So, it is both an "epiphyte" and a "lithophyte".
At first I thought that I had missed seeing the flowers
(too late again?).
From about an arms length away,
there seemed to be tiny dried shells of old flowers.
Then I realised that I could see little orange "labellums".
These plants were rampantly in flower!

A word about these plants is appropriate.
There is another species of "Bulbophyllum" in the district. Its leaves are far smaller. The leaves of this species are about 2.5 cm long and have a deep groove in the upper surface.
They are succulent leaves, not dissimilar in feel to "Pigface".
In the first photograph (above) you can see many of the "pseudobulbs" which form along the stems of these plants.

Here is a close-up of a single flower.
I have pasted a re-size image onto the cropped image,
to give a true idea of scale (when blown up to full size).
Click to enlarge.
This tiny single flower is gripped between
my thumb and forefinger.

You can see from the way these flowers hang down in nature,
they do not mind which way they hold their flowers.
So I could not decide which way to show the flower,
but David Jones's illustration shows the plant side on
with the labellum in the lower section of the flower.
PlantNET shows the flower the wrong way round.

It looks right, that way, but it is botanically incorrect.
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The other epiphytic (or lithophytic) Orchid
which was in flower there yesterday
is the lovely Sarcochilus olivaceus.
David Jones refers to this one as
Sarcochilus parviflorus
but that name is not even mentioned in PlantNET.
Here is the flower at its natural pendant angle.
The flower opening is facing downwards.
Here is the flower held up, so one can see "into" the flower.
The column is very prominent above the flower (in this view).
Remember it normally is held "face down".
The deeply cupped labellum has very prominent "lateral lobes"
which you can see clearly if you click to enlarge the image.
These lateral lobes seem to reach around, to almost touch eachother.

Tangle-root Orchid - edited

EDITED - THE NEXT DAY
As I was not satisfied with the photos in yesterday's post, I have added new images which I took today, back out in the bush, when it was less windy.

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This is my first post about the Tangle-root Orchid (Plectorrhiza tridentata) I may have mentioned it incidentally before, but I have never had close-up photos before. My fellow Aussie Nature Blogger, Gaye, has written about this Orchid when she found it in the Barrington Tops.

This is an uncommon Orchid up here on top of the Illawarra Escarpment. I had seen one plant here, before, just on the edge of the Robertson basalt caps, but on the lower edges there-of.

Tangle-root Orchid is well named.
This plant is hanging by a single thread of root
suspended from the ferns on the tree branch above it.
Its ball of roots is about the size of a football - but very light.
This plant has only about 7 leaves,
but it is carrying about 12 flowers.
These flowers are clearly honey coloured.

Here is a cropped image,
showing the same plant - just its leaves and flowers
This plant was about 5 metres high.
The flowers are small and hard to see.

Some time ago I was told by Graeme Bradburn of ANOS about another place in my local area (a place with which I was familiar) where he said these Orchids were to be found. Sure enough, after seeing that the one plant I knew about was in flower, I tried the place Graeme had suggested - and there they were.

This was the best image I could obtain, with a zoom lens.
It clearly shows the long spur behind the labellum.
(in this angle it is "above", but structurally, it is behind the labellum)

A closer view of spray of flowers.
Some insect eggs on the leaf at lower end.
Same species, but these ones are green not honey-coloured.

See new image below - which is clearer.
Click to enlarge)

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This is one flower very close-up, from the side.
Note how there is a long tube ("spur") behind the labellum.
The dorsal sepal and lateral petals closely shield the column.
(Photo replaced 10.10.09)

Here is a flower, as seen from above.
The white and yellow parts are the labellum, spread widely.
The green "hood" is the dorsal sepal.
The protective "arms' are the petals.
Here is the flower seen from directly in front,
but seen from low down to look into the "column"
The "spur" is just visible, below the flower.
Here is a similar view taken today.
You can see the column which is so well protected by the dorsal sepal.

Finally, here is another shot, taken with natural light.
The flower is merely 5mm wide and deep.
The spur behind is probably about 1 cm long.

The Tangle-root Orchid has a delicious sweet perfume, but on a cold, windy day like today, it was barely noticeable. On a warm day, no doubt it would drive the insects crazy with desire.

My favourite image.

It shows the left hand flower as seen from the front.
The "Gravy-ladle shaped" labellum (wider than deep) is clearly visible.
On the right it shows the side view perfectly.
Note the closely hooded green dorsal sepal and side petals
and the long white and purple "spur" behind the labellum.