Tiny flowers of Sarcochilus hillii

Unlike the large and showy flowers of my local Sarcochilus falcatus (the "Orange-blossom Orchid") these tiny flowers of the related Sarcochilus hillii are exquisite in delicate colour and form - but tiny.

Sarcochilus hillii

According to my guide for the day, Alan Stephenson, these flimsy plants are referred to as "twig epiphytes", meaning they grow in the very finest of branches of their favourite host tree the Grey Myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia). 

In some cases their manner of growth reminds me of the "Tangle-root Orchid" (Plectorrhiza tridentata) often growing by means of roots holding the plant up to the branch above it, because the roots are stronger than the flimsy, (often dead) twigs on which the plant has grown. Here is a case in point. The flowering plant is growing by roots connected to the branch above, while the twig on which it is growing is broken.

Sarcochilus hillii - growing as a "Twig Epiphyte"

These plants were mostly growing on the damp stems of small Grey Myrtle bushes.
 

Sarcochilus hillii growing on smallish Grey Myrtle tree.

Although there were some of thee Orchids growing on moss-covered rocks on the ground below these trees. In the Shoalhaven Valley area - 30 Kms west from Nowra - (where we were) the Grey Myrtle mostly grows as a dense thicket along wet creek lines. In this creek the myrtles stopped about 50 metres from either side of the creek. The Sarcochilus hillii plants stopped with the edge of the Myrtle thicket.