The orchids of Cambewarra Mountain and Kangaroo Valley are starting up. These plants flower about a month earlier than the same species, up on the Robertson Plateau. Some of these plants are nearly as high (in altitude) as Robertson. But Kangaroo Valley is in a "lens" and captures the sun and heats up. And Cambewarra Mountain is exposed to the milder coastal weather. So, either or both of those factors might explain what is going on here.
These Prasophyllum brevilabre were doing very well, in an area down in the lower end of the Kangaroo Valley where there had been a "burn-off" the previous season.
This accords with the reputation of many of these Leek Orchids as benefitting from a burn-off. Given that I had just come from seeing a related plant (below) which was barely able to hold its flower stem together, I was impressed with how well these plants were doing. It tends to confirm the "do well after a fire" theory.
These tall Leek Orchids were in very bad condition, reflecting the obvious dry season we are having here (south from Sydney). This plant stem had grown then snapped over. Others had shrivelled without opening any flowers. The only healthy plants I saw were several "smart" ones which had not attempted to flower. They were doing OK.
One thing to note, the Epiphytic Orchids of Upper Kangaroo Valley are not yet in flower. That includes the same species as here -
Sarcochilus falcatus, and also the
Dockrillia linguiformis
2 comments:
Love the ones growing up the trunk of the wattle.
Thanks Mac
Our best epiphytic Orchid, locally.
Relatively large flowers (size of a 20 c coin, at best.
Around Robertson they mostly grow out of reach, but on Cambewarra they can be found quite low down as well.
Nice that they trust people so much.
Denis
Post a Comment