Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Petalochilus mentiens - a delightful Spring surprise

I have been away from Robertson for several weeks and more specifically I have not been out Orchid hunting in the local area for about a month. 
In that month it has rained and rained and rained. I have had 560mm since 17 August. 

So I was delighted to find that the tiny, (minuscule one might say) Petalochilus mentiens has just started to flower. It is a Caladenia, of course. These plants are all less than 2 inches high (in the old money) or 50mm if you prefer. 


Petalochilus mentiens.
Note the erect dorsal sepal,
the tightly hugging labellum wings and the protruding labellum tip
and the prominent v shaped tip of the labellum.
One of them was a delightful pale pink. The others were all white or cream
Pink specimen of Petalochilus mentiens

In each case,the dorsal sepal was held erect, and the labellum wings are tightly curved around the column, but the labellum tip is prominent, and very tightly v shaped (but not re-curved).
In one area there were about 8 plants within several metres, One shot shows 4 plants - a restriction of my macro lens and my inability to walk back to the car to change lenses.

a nice group of 4 flowers together.
This plant is not exactly rare, but it does not flower here every year, so I am making a bit of a fuss about it now, seeing as I found it today.

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