Late Spring orchid update

Visitors, a new job and unseasonal weather have curtailed my orchid watching lately. The early-flowering spider orchid flowers are starting to shrivel but that's offset by the summer-flowering orchids like Thelymitra sending up their flower spikes. They could well turn tail and burrow back into the ground after a cold snap sent us back into winter again! We've had a couple of sunny days in December which everyone appreciated - here's the view of Halfmoon Bay from a friend's house a week ago.

The Chiloglottis (Green bird) orchids have started flowering but I'll have to wait for a sunny day to get some better photos of their fascinating structure.

Chiloglottis cornuta

The greenhood orchids continue to delight with their variety and long-flowering season.

Pterostylis, greenhood orchids

The Earina mucronata (bamboo orchid) clump I'd been watching eventually flowered mid-November and it's another one that needs a brighter light to get the best photos - maybe next Spring will be sunnier.



Earina mucronata, bamboo orchid

Close-up of bamboo orchid flower

Bush canopy in the sunshine

Mare's tail clouds heralding windy weather ahead

Last, but not least are some pics of the beautiful spider orchids...

Orchids at home - early November

What a busy month! I'm sorry for the break in blogging but hope my adventures in the second half of the month will make up for it. Whilst I process over 500 photos from that, I'll pop up these early November pics of orchids and fungi from around my boundary track.

Earina mucronata (Bamboo orchid) spikes - not quite opened

A clump of Spider orchids

Close-up of Spider orchid

Another Spider orchid - this one with extra long
lateral sepals and petals

Spider orchids by the dozens

Chiloglottis cornuta - not quite open

My Chiloglottis corner - more than 100 covering a 2sq m patch

I'll have to study the spider orchids in greater detail to find the difference between Corybas, Singularybas and Nematoceras - my understanding is that they are all slightly different forms of Corybas but I could very well be wrong!!

I came across three white fungi as I walked around; again, studying fungal forms could be a fulltime job in itself - I so love the diversity of our beautiful world...

Orchids on the way home

What a stunning day today - calm, blue skies and warm temperatures; the perfect day for slow walking home taking photos of the orchids up the Back Road hill. This is the third year that I've weeded the bank; to begin with it was just the dandelions but now a bigger threat is looming with rampant growth of Lotus, a clover-like legume that might be a good pasture grass but it's a jolly nuisance here. The rhizomes grow behind the bank surface so when I pull the roots out the bank collapses too. Short of painting weedkiller on the leaves, I'm not sure how to tackle the problem.

The hill up to my home is about 500m long with a bank on the right hand side for about 400m, then a bank on the left hand side for the last 100m. The vegetation on the bank gets trimmed in late summer or early autumn to retain visibility for drivers and in September the orchids start appearing. Here's a selection...

Flower bud appearing on ?Thelymitra longifolia



This looks like Aporostylis bifolia but there's only one leaf, not two

A group of Pterostylis (greenhood orchids)

Not sure of this one

Close up of greenhood orchid flower

The ants were swarming over the base of the flower above

Another clump of Pterostylis

A slightly different greenhood orchid - perhaps Pterostylis Montana?

Another close-up of greenhood flower

Greenhood flower just starting to form

Corybas (spider orchid) in flower

What a sweetie

Another clump of greenhoods

A mass of spider orchids

Looking down the throat of a spider orchid flower

Close up of Corybas flower

Side view of Corybas flower

Another side view of Corybas flower

A mass of Thelymitra (Sun orchids) - they're later flowering and won't
open if it's not sunny

Orchids and an eclipse

Native orchids are popping up all over the place - there's never a 'boring' walk here and it makes me realise how much I missed when I had a car. The summer-flowering sun orchid (Thelymitra) just has green shoots at present and most of the greenhood (Pterostylis) orchids haven't flowered yet but there are a heap of spider orchids (Corybas) in flower. My camera doesn't have much depth of field so it's challenging to get a good photo with most of the flower in focus - but trying is always fun.

Greenhood orchid flower (Pterostylis)

Earina mucronata flower buds starting to open

A spider orchid flower (Corybas)

Spider orchids high on a bank at the base of a tree

I think this is Corybas rivularis in flower

Close-up of spider orchid

Newly opened spider orchid

Another shot of the one above

And another angle

This spider orchid leaf is about the size of my thumbnail

Corybas rivularis in flower

This spider orchid has the longest lateral sepals I've seen

Close-up of Corybas rivularis flower

Earina mucronata flower buds - almost open

Delicate greenhood orchid flower

Of course, you realise I'm guessing at most of these! I usually check out Hugh Wilson's 'Field Guide to Stewart Island Plants' - but tonight picked up the 'Colour field guide to the native orchids of New Zealand' by Eric Scanlen and Ian St George and got totally lost. This fab reference book has Corybas as a synonym for Nematoceras, a name I haven't come across before. And the 'rivularis' part has changed to 'rivulare' - or is this a different orchid??

I'm in awe of the people who specialise in identifying our native plants; the range is so diverse and the orchid 'language' especially has my brain stretched to full capacity...

"Sheathing bract at stem base, is a colourless, trumpet-shaped sheath, usually sloping up to a variable apiculus at the rear, whose point is mostly dark but sometimes green. Peduncle lengthens as a scape after pollination for good seed distribution."

Just as well there's a website that makes it easier - go to New Zealand Native Orchids website for a look around. Their Orchid Structures web page is great to learn the parts of an orchid flower. I'll have to study it well so I can start identifying some of the plants I find.

The total lunar eclipse last Wednesday night was almost a fizzer here. Heavy cloud and driving rain was the excuse for an early night but fortunately I woke at 11pm and watched the moon sliding into full eclipse with the occasional cloud sweeping past. My wee camera came up trumps again with being able to capture some of the action, not bad at all for a 4x optical zoom and being handheld!