Other summer flowering orchids

The sun orchids are the most visible of the summer flowering orchids but if you look closely then you'll see a number of other orchids including these Aporostylis or odd-leaved orchid.


A clump of Aporostylis bifolia - a small orchid with one large and one
small leaf

There's a colony of Chiloglottis cornuta, or green bird orchid, on my boundary track - it's in a dense clump about a metre square...

Another interesting orchid are the two species of Microtis or onion orchid. Microtis oligantha is small with a few sparse flowers; Microtis unifolia is much larger (15-35cm) with many flowers crammed together. I have many Microtis unifolia growing amongst the grass and always feel guilty when I get them when cutting the grass.

Microtis unifolia

There are still a few Pterostylis (greenhood orchids) in flower - I saw this beauty the other day...

...but most of the early flowering orchids have shrivelled flowers and swelling ovaries like this spider orchid...

After a week or so, the swollen ovary gets pushed up high as the stem grows - I wonder if this is so the seed is spread as far as possible?

Elongated stem on left hand side

Thelymitra - sun orchids

I have a backlog of orchid pics; I try to identify them first but sometimes the flowers haven't opened which makes it trickier to understand the written description - a picture is definitely worth a thousand words! I then wait for the flowers to open but by then have taken photos of other things to write about so get even further behind.

At present it's the turn of Thelymitra (sun orchid), Aporostylis (odd-leaved orchid), Microtis (onion orchid), Chiloglottis (green bird orchid), Caladenia (white and pink orchid), Gastrodia (black orchid) and Winika (lady's slipper orchid).

A clump of Thelymitra (sun orchids) on a road-side bank

Sun orchid - swelling flower buds

Partially opened sun orchid

Thelymitra venosa (veined sun orchid)

I think this is Thelymitra hatchii (blue sun orchid)

Close-up of T.hatchii flower centre - Hugh Wilson states that the
flower centre is distinctive for each of the 12 species found in NZ.
There are 4 species of Thelymitra on Stewart Island.

Another view of Thelymitra hatchii

The white sun orchid, Thelymitra longifolia



I think this is Thelymitra pulchella

There are masses of sun orchids on some roadside banks on Back Road - they must like living here as much as I do :)