Hyacinth Orchid - Dipodium punctatum

Sorry to go on and on about Hyacinth Orchids, but it is the season for them - they are popping up all over the sandstone plateaux of the Southern Highlands. And they are lovely, and showy, and best of all, highly visible. One can even spot these tall Orchids as one drives along a country road - that's pretty remarkable, compared with the normal difficulty in finding Orchids.

But, they have been causing me headaches, trying to sort out the various species, especially distinguishing this one from Dipodium roseum. (More about that tomorrow.)

I have gone back and "revised" and "re-revised" the names I have attributed to certain plants which I have published previously as Dipodium roseum. Wherever I have edited those earlier posts, that fact is made abundantly clear.

Ironically, today's post is about a most unusual form of Dipodium punctatum. These specimens (there were a few of them, not just one aberrant specimen) had green stems, instead of the normal dark red-brown stems.

But I have struggled to identify these plants positively - mostly because there are many much more strongly coloured forms which other people have published on their Flickr Sites and specialist Orchid Websites.Trouble is, many of the Flickr images are nice photos, but incorrectly identified.

My problem is that this what the local (NSW Southern Highlands) plants look like. But, none-the-less, although they are not as strongly marked as many plants are (from other areas) I have little doubt about their identity for several reasons - which shall become clear in the course of examining these images.

Here is a single flower - showing its heavy spotting.The first thing I noticed about these plants (there were two growing close together) was the pale buds at the top of the stems. And the stems were greenish yellow, not dark red-brown. I have never seen such a form before.
At first I thought it must be Dipodium variegatum, but that plant has spots on the pedicel and the ovary (the individual flower stem and the swollen base of the flower). These plants do not. (Click on the hot link here to see my previous post about D. variegatum.)

Here is a closer view of the pale buds.
There were many black ants on the flowers,
but they were a larger species than tiny house ants.
They were approx 8mm long.
Note how the top buds are yellow with dark spots
but as the flowers mature, they achieve a mid-pink colour,
but still with dark spots.

And closer still.
Note also there is one flower visible from the adjacent plant
(of the same variety).
Note its true pink colour, with dark pink spots.
Here is the full image of the two plants -
both with greenish yellow stems..
Here is a close-up of the base of the two greenish-yellow stems.
The rear view of the flower shows how heavily spotted it is,
especially on the lower parts of the flower.

In this side view, one can see that the petals and sepals of the flower are not recurved. That is one of the diagnostic points which David Jones stresses with regard to Dipodium punctatum.Here is the labellum of this flower - as seen looking down directly from above, to show the shape of the labellum, and the fine fibres on the central section of the labellum, and the grooved lines along the labellum.Alan Stephenson, the Conservation Officer of the Australasian Native Orchid Society, to whom I have sent these images, has now confirmed these plants as Dipodium punctatum. Many thanks, Alan.