Tree Dahlia - probably its last days of flowering.

I love my Tree Dahlia. It is the most optimistic plant I know of. (I am embarrassed to see that I have used that line over many years). Oh well.

Tree Dahlia flowering up and over other shrubs.
It needs some protection from winds,
otherwise, it gets flattened.
Several stems on left and right have fallen over
but the flowers will still open.

Every winter, it gets cut back to the ground (or under it, technically). Then in mid-spring it starts all over again, growing fast (imagine Jack's Beanstalk plant). Then in April, it starts to open its first flowers. Today it was in something approaching full flower. In old money, these flowers are over 10 feet off the ground.

Tree Dahlia stems holding many flowers
as seen from my Back Deck.

But late this afternoon, it started to rain. If the rain comes on heavily, the flowers will bow to the ground under the weight of the water it has to carry on its 3 metre plus stems.
Normally its enemy is frost. But we have not had any here, yet, because the long dry autumn mild spell. I will know more tomorrow, or the day after.

Tree Dahlia flower

That is a shot of a single flower (as best I could manage, by holding one stem over). The flowers are simple (open) whereas most Dahlia flowers are "double". But as far as I know Tree Dahlias are always delicate flowers, like this. Some are white. A heavy flower, such as the "Exhibition" Dahlias, which the Dahlia people rave about, would surely be too heavy for the stems to carry more than three metres above ground, and catching the wind.

I have a fairly dull Japanese Maple
But today it was looking charming
in the grey light of this afternoon.

Autumn Flowering Orchids in Shoalhaven

A range of autumn flowering Orchids starting up in the Shoalhaven region. Alan Stephenson and I did a tour of the most likely sites, and found a few nice Orchids, plus some Boronia nana plants which is a species I have not seen for a few years.

Best find was Diplodium longipetalum - a "first" for me.
*** My memory was faulty, but my system of "Labels" showed me that I had recorded this species two years ago, at Douglas Park.  The dates coincide perfectly.

 

Diplodium longipetalum
click on that link to see a good
line drawing of the shape of this flower,
especially the long down-curved labellum.

Prettiest flower was of course, Petalochilus pictus.

Petalochilus pictus
A harbinger of spring, even though it is
a genuine autumn/winter flowerer
It reminds me of the other "Pretties" to come.

For a look at the other species we saw along the way, check my Facebook Album of Autumn Flowering Orchids in the Shoalhaven.
You do not have to be a member fo Facebook to see these photos.

Swift Moths arrive

As with many things this season, in Robertson, the Swift Moths have emerged early. No doubt in my mind it is the recent cold snap which has triggered them to emerge.

These two individuals are less clearly marked than many of the others I have seen and photographed previously. However, I have no clear basis on which to declare them to be anything other than the species previously identified as occurring in Robertson.Oxycanus dirempta 

Oxycanus dirempta

This one snuck in past the insect screen
Oxycanus dirempta

Eyes and antennae of
Oxycanus dirempta

Hind wings and abdomen of
Oxycanus dirempta

No doubt this is just an early showing for these moths which frequently beat themselves against my winds, especially on cold wet nights. Tonight has been dry, not wet.

Tree Dahlia makes it to flowering stage.

I love my Tree Dahlia plant. To me it symbolises the eternal struggle to succeed. In truth it might not be suitable for this climate, as it barely manages to flower, before the frosts cut it down.

Bare stems (canes) of the plant
and several arching branches carrying flowers.
In my experience, this plant needs other bushes near it
to support the heavy flowering heads.

My Blogging colleague, Martin, shares my interest in these flowers, and told me (in comments on his blog) that when he lived in Canberra, he grew them there, and they would last until the first moderate frost would arrive. It seems that where he now lives, he can no longer grow Tree Dahlias. My commiserations.

This year, my Tree Dahlia has flowered better than in previous years, as Robertson has had a long, dry and warm autumn season. In fact it started life badly as the first tall stem was knocked over by strong winds in late spring, and the plant had to start all over again.

But it has made it.

The pendant flowers always look like "Pixie's Caps" to me

(Well, as Pixie's Caps are traditionally illustrated).A close-up of the "eye" of the Tree Dahlia Flower.
Click to enlarge it, to see the details.
Just lovely, in my opinion.

Several new birds for my house list (no photos).

Last week, my brother and I were fortunate to see (briefly) a pure white White Goshawk fly out from the ridge to the east, and then do a circuit, before being attacked by the resident Magpie clan. They really behave like "bovver-boys".

Technically, this is not a new species for me, as the "experts" regard this bird as a white "morph" of the Grey Goshawk (Accipiter novaehollandiae) which is an occasional visitor here, from the dense rainforest below the escarpment (only a few minutes flying time away).

At first, we thought it might have been a White Cockatoo, but the Magpies do not bother to harass the Cockies. plus, Cockies seldom fly by themselves.

Later in that afternoon, in warm sunny weather, Brendan asked me what bird was calling. A gentle, high pitched trilling call, descending gently. At first I thought it could only be an Eastern Spinebill, but then I realised it was not giving the fast repetitive trill which Spinebills give. I suggested possible a Scarlet Honeyeater, and Brendan immediately replied: "Of course". What he did not know was that it is a new bird for me here. He is quite familiar with them from the moist gullies in the far South Coast. For me, I was going back to last New Year's Day when I heard many of them calling high in the Eucalypt trees when searching for Christmas Orchids, south from Ulladulla, also on the South Coast.

The Scarlet Honeyeater is on the bird lists from the Barren Grounds, approximately 15 Kms from here (presumably from the rainforest patches there, not from the Heathlands). But this was my first record. Although only an auditory record, as there were two observers present, and we both agreed with the ID, I am prepared to put it down on my list.

Other birds have been as per normal for a long, warm Autumn. The migrating Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and White-naped Honeyeaters have been passing through. Their passage had appeared to dwindle (in numbers) over the previous week, when it was very cold, but the last few days of warmer weather has seen the numbers pick up again. The ratio of Yellow-faceds and White-napes has reversed now (finally). This is expected, as the YFHEs always move first, and the WNHEs come though later.

Today I saw several flocks of 30 or more birds pass through, and they were predominantly White-napes. Their in-flight calls are totally distinctive, and these species, and their migratory habits are very familiar to me, as I grew up banding hundreds of these birds with my father, every autumn, during the years of huge migrations from the Brindabella Ranges, west of Canberra. I found many hundreds of these migrating birds in the Budawangs, last year, near Tianjara Falls.

Leo's "Fall 2008" images - from Nova Scotia.

As it is "Fall" in Canada (and Spring here) I like to exchange images with my friend Leo. I asked him for some Autumn colour images, anticipating some picture postcard images of red (or yellow) Maples, etc. What I got were the following images of a humble herb, almost a weed in Leo's mind - Potentilla repens.

Potentillas are in the Rosaceae. They are related to, and have leaves like strawberries, but have dry fruit, not succulent berries. They are also closely related to other garden plants and alpines, such as Geum. They do not have thorns, or fleshy "heps" like Roses.

Anyway, in response to my request, Leo sent me a few images, of which I have chosen these. Leo said:

"I didn't get any postcard images this fall (or year, really) or I would have sent them to you." (DJW says: To make up for it, I have republished one of Leo's images from last year).


"Strange thing, I did not notice the frost dots (presumably related to hairs or some such on the leaf) at the time, only on the photos after downloading to the puter; I only saw the frost edging in "real life". Then again I never got close enough to a leaf to make it fill my vision the way it does on the monitor."









Clearly, from his comments about what he did not notice about the leaves, until he had blown them up on the 'puter, Leo does not get "down and dirty" as I often do, photographing Ground Orchids, while lying on my belly. I often find that I have photographed a tiny flower spider inside an Orchid, but was totally oblivious of it, until I blew up the image on screen. That's OK - that's normal. Leo gets "down and dirty" by occasionally crashing his Mountain Bike, when he tries crossing a makeshift log bridge over a creek, as happened recently, when riding through the forests in his beloved Nova Scotia. But he is recovering now.

Nice photos Leo. This is my personal favourite.

Myrmechila species - comparisons

Here are some comparative photos of a number of Myrmechila (Chiloglottis) Orchids which were observed on Macquarie Pass today.
It appears that there are two species here - basically one with calli (glands) down to the very tip of the labellum, (Myrmechila formicifera) and one with calli (mostly) restricted to the rear (upper) half of the labellum (Myrmechila trapeziformis)

It is hard to make "hard and fast rules" for these plants, as one (the far right flower) has some tiny "bubbles" on the very tip of the labellum. However, when one looks at these 4 separate flowers, it is apparent that the two on the left have a different shape to the labellum from those on the right, which both clearly have a prominent central point to the labellum, which then curves in slightly, before pointing further out again, on either side.
These slight differences are more obvious if you click on the image to view it a full size. I should warn you that it was drizzling today, and these flowers have rain drops on their labellums, as well as the glands, but once warned, you will work that out easily.

Here are images of three "labellums" of Chiloglottis species. They show the obvious similarities, but the glands (pseudo-insects) are shaped differently having a general heart shape at the apex, whereas the Myrmechila have divergent heads, resembling "bug eyed" creatures. The differences between these plants and the closely related Chiloglottis Orchids is basically that these plants flower in winter and spring, and the others flower in summer and autumn. However, the lateral sepals (called "clubs") in these two species are widely divergent, in a more or less horizontal plane. By contrast, the clubs of the Chiloglottis Orchids photographed in the local area are held low down, under the labellum (and sometimes reflexed). See the various photos of the full flowers of Chiloglottis in this posting from March 2008.

Cool, wet weather excites the Swift Moths.

Tonight, early in the evening, there were 5 Swift Moths beating against the two small window panes in my Study window.
None were at other windows, but this window has a native Prostanthera bush just a metre away. Perhaps that attracts the moths, or provides them with protection (cover). They still get attracted to the light inside the window. But other windows have light inside them too - so there has to be another factor at work, influencing their keenness for bashing against this window.

This moth (a Male, I believe) has very colourful wings.

One interesting feature of this display is the weather. Today has been cold, and wet. Not heavy rain, but steady drizzle - enough to make the gutters in the main street run steadily. According to one particular Bureau of Meteorology website, there has been 8mm of rain since 9:00am today.

"Two Bright Eyes"

I have noticed in the past that the Swift Moths are active during or after rain in late autumn, and winter. Tonight I can confirm that impression, with photos and statistics.

Swift Moths are back on the wing

Robbo is famous for its large moths. I recall vividly my first year in Robertson, living in a tin shed. The roof of the shed had Polycarbonate corrugated sheets in places, as sky lights. At the appropriate season (late autumn and winter, as I recall) when I had lights on in the shed, these clear panels attracted moths which would beat themselves silly against the clear panels, trying to follow the light. They sounded like possums running across the roof, and it took a while to get used to them knocking themselves silly. They are big heavy slow-flapping moths. I have never known why they are called "Swift Moths".
Female - larger body (necessary for laying eggs) and small antennae
Male - smaller body, but much larger antennae (used to track the pheromones produced by the female).
The two moths pasted on the same image, for comparison purposes.
These moths (if I have identified the species correctly - and I make no great claim for that)
are probably Abantiades hyalinatus. Certainly I have seen Swift Moths like the ones illustrated on the website linked above which had the same russet coloured hind-wings (which are only visible when a moth is exhausted, and very likely is dying). Compare this image with those on the website linked above.
While I have been writing this, a large Swift Moth has been hammering at the window of my Study. This is not a photo of that individual, but is a shot of another moth, doing the same thing, in late June, two years ago. The eye is very large, and is reflecting the flash of the camera.

Ground Orchids of late Autumn are starting up.

Post number 667. I passed the "Number of the Beast" and didn't even notice (until today)! That's good. Superstition is not ruling my life.

The Ground Orchids of late autumn are now starting to flower.

Interestingly, there is a great variation in flowering seasons of the Tall Greenhood (Bunochilus longifolius). These plants were flowering half-way down Macquarie Pass (in a warmer environment than up here on the Robertson plateau), and over at Fitzroy Falls. This one was photographed at Fitzroy Falls on 14 April. Yesterday, the plants at Macquarie Pass were still in flower, but obviously getting towards the end of their flowering season.

There is a colony of this same species, living in a very dark (shaded) area, along the Belmore Falls Rd. Today, members of this same species of plants are far from ready to flower - still forming their stem leaves, prior to forming the flowering spike. By the time they are ready to flower, they will be as much as two months behind the other members of their species. Obviously location and aspect have a very strong influence on flowering time.

The other species in flower here today is the Superb Greenhood, (Diplodium grandiflorum). These are the first of this species which I have seen in flower this year. Here is the front-on view of this plant, showing why it earns its other name, the "Cobra Greenhood".By the side view, it looks more like a conventional Greenhood.