Orchids from Nowra and Cambewarra Mountain

This morning I rang Alan Stephenson to check on the weather in Nowra.
We have had such cold, windy weather in Robbo that I was very uncertain that it was going to be worthwhile making the trip down to the Shoalhaven. But Alan assured me it was warm and sunny,

I am glad I went, for I found a number of interesting Orchids.

Hymenochilus bicolor
Formerly Pterostylis bicolor
Growing in Nowra Cemetery

Prasophyllum elatum
These plants on Leebold Hill
have green leaves and
black flower stems.
The buds are just visible,
They come out creamy colour.

Pterostylis erecta

Speculantha vernalis
This spring flowered species
of Speculantha
is distinct from the regular
summer and autumn flowered species.
Alan Stephenson has persuaded
the Federal Authorities
to list it as Critically Endangered
because it is so highly localised.

The epiphytic form of the
Sydney Rock Orchid
it grows so high in trees on
Cambewarra Mountain
that it is very hard
for me to photograph.
You can just make out
the long flower sprays.
Thelychiton epiphyticus

Dockrillia pugioniformis

Petalochilus alatus
Fairy Caladenia
This tiny Caladenia
is very sweet, but hard to find
and harder to photograph properly.

 An unusual magenta colour form of Glossodia minor
beside a regular colour form on right

Glossodia minor

Some Orchids of the Shoalhaven 31 July 2013

Alan Stephenson and I went out for the day, on Wednesday 31 July.We were looking for a few unusual Orchids which our records showed ought be in flower at this time of year.

As with many "Corybas" (Helmet Orchids), leaves of the Anzybas unguiculatus were found, but flowers were few and far between. Ultimately we found a few "finished" flowers, but only one which was properly open. They were in heavy leaf-litter under mixed Turpentine and Bloodwood forest.

Corybas unguiculatus (Anzybas unguiculatus)

We then drove across Deans Gap Fire Trail to a location Alan knows, under a powerline, where we found a good flowering of "Gnat Orchids". Many had tiny leaves, and they were showing only one or two flowers. But some had reasonably large leaves, with up to 3 flowers and a bud.

Cyrtostylis reniformis - "Gnat Orchid"

Boronia ledifolia ("Showy Boronia")

There were many Nodding Greenhoods in flower.

Pterostylis nutans

We found a small group of these lovely "Maroon-hoods".

Pterostylis pedunculata

We then returned towards Nowra and Alan spotted these
beautiful little "Blue Caladenias" (Cyanicula caerulea)
in flower at Flat Rock Creek.
Gorgeous little things and the first of "pretty Orchids" we found.
A sign of a coming Spring season?

.

Cyanicula caerulea

Rain has officially finished - for now. + evening edit

I recorded just 0.5mm of "rain" yesterday. Probably in fact the result of a heavy dew. But moisture is moisture.
But I am pleased to show the first full 60 KM view I have been able to see for the last 10 days.

A full range view into the Shoalhaven Valley
Some sign of mist on the
ridge on the way up to Sassafras.
That is approximately 60 KMs away.

 Sunny days are great for plants and animals (including me and my fellows, and Lulu).  She can rejoice in sitting outside at Cafe Pirouette this morning.

EVENING EDIT.
 
Here is a distant photo of "Mountain Ducks" (Chestnut-breasted Shelducks or "Australian Shelducks". I found them on this same paddock on 1 July last year. Synchronicity? I got much better photos last year - but today they got spooked by traffic and flew to the far side of the paddock. But the bird is still recognisable (if you click on the image to enlarge it). There were two birds, a pair, but the female is hiding behind a clump of long grass. The male has its bold white neck ring clearly visible.

Australian Shelduck in paddock
on the way to Moss Vale

And now an evening view of the same distant panorama, looking over the Upper Shoalhaven valley, towards Sassafras.

A zoomed image, in last afternoon light.
The hills are blue, and it is good to see them
at 60 Km distance - that's not bad.

The far ridge goes up to Sassafras.
That is on Main Road 92
from Nowra to Nerriga and on to Braidwood.
 

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.

Nowra weekend with Canberra Native Plant people

I stayed at Alan and Michelle's place on Friday evening, in readiness for meeting up with Roger and Christine and the rest of the travelling group from Canberra Australian Native Plant group who had come to Nowra for the weekend.
Their plan was to start with Bomaderry Creek Nature Reserve, and then move on to other areas in the Shoalhaven region.
Naturally we showed them lots of tiny Orchids, some almost invisible.
I have posted a Picasa album, which is open to the public.
https://plus.google.com/photos/113268294402913437731/albums/5859215150742708113?banner=pwa

Probably the most unusual image is a photo of a newly described and named species of Banksia from Vincentia. Apparently this plant has recently been formally described and named by Peter Weston, from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. He is a recognised expert on Proteaceae. In all probability this is the first internet published image of this newly described and named species.

Banksia vincentia

Leaves of Banksia vincentia

This is a tiny, aberrant form of "Speculantha sp. aff parviflora" - one of the Tiny Greenhoods. Normally these plants are about 100 mm (4 inches) high, to 250mm for tall specimens. This plant was only 30mm in total height.The 5 cent coin is there for scale, to show how tiny the whole plant was.

Speculantha - a tiny "alba form".
A vary rare variation from the normal forms
which are found in the Shoalhaven.

There are many other photos of tiny Orchids, mostly Corunastylis species which were seen on this weekend.
https://plus.google.com/photos/113268294402913437731/albums/5859215150742708113?banner=pwa

Searching for missing Leek Orchids

Alan Stephenson and I went to Major's Creek cemetery to search for a mysterious Leek Orchid which was once reported from that site. We were joined in the search by Martin and Frances Butterfield. We couldn't find this missing species, this year. Perhaps next year.

We did find a few other things, however.
I am endebted to Alan for having provided all the photographs in this blog. I am having trouble with my flash unit of my Camera, so Alan agreed to provide me copies of his images.

The Majors Creek Cemetery is looking very good, with the grasses and various other Orchids, and native plants in flower. Everything was looking great, I must say.

Diuris punctata - the Purple Donkey Orchid
These plants at Major's Creek had lovely long lateral sepals
protruding far below the labellum.
(Unfortunately this shot is over-exposed
That is one of the problems of
photographing plants in the rain.)

Diuris pardina
These plants were very strongly marked
and quite noticeably reddish.
The "ears" (petals) are held high.

Diuris pardina
The lateral sepals are curved around,
underneath the labellum,
in this species.
Note the dark brown marks on the
back of the petals.

This is a very localised form of the Grevillea juniperina. It is reported from Braidwood to Nerriga - exactly where I found it growing, beside the road in to Stewart's Crossing (of the Upper Shoalhaven River). It was completely prostrate. Less than 6 inches high, but spreading to several metres wide. Rich bronze-yellow flowers. 

Grevillea juniperina subsp. amphitricha

 

Grevillea juniperina subsp. amphitricha

Stewart's Crossing, Upper Shoalhaven River.
A lovely looking place, but presumably abused in summer.
The sand bed has been chewed up by cars, unfortunately.
But I am pleased to say that there is a good protective barrier to stop
damage to the riverbanks which are well grassed.

Microtis parviflora

This was found on day 2 of our trip - south from Ulladulla.
It was a new species for me - Sarcochilus australis . It is also known as Gunn's Orchid, revealing that it is found in Tasmania as well as Victoria and southern NSW (hence the name "australis" meaning "southern").

Sarcochilus australis

Unfortunately these lovely flowers were hard to photograph
and are somewhat over-exposed.
Sarcochilus australis

Beside where the Sarcochilus were growing
I found this nest of a Yellow Robin.

This plant is the reason for our visit to an area south from Termeil, in a patch of State Forest.
This is a very rare spring-flowering species of Midge Orchid, Corunastylis vernalis.
This species is listed as "Vulnerable" under the Federal EPBC Act, and has the same status on the NSW Threatened Species Act.

Corunastylis vernalis

Whole plant of
Corunastylis vernalis
As you can see there is not much of it.

A few Orchids from Comerong Island

Last weekend the Illawarra Branch of the Australasian Native Orchid Society went on an excursion to Comerong Island. See the introduction to this post, for location and geographic information about the Island. It was intended to be an Orchid trip, but we found more varieties of Fungi than Orchids (much to the frustration of my friend Colin Rowan).

We saw literally thousands of leaves of Pterostylis curta and some Pterostylis nutans. None were in flower, unfortunately.

However, Alan Stephenson was on a mission to re-locate a group of variegated Pterostylis curta plants which he had seen a few years previously. This required a  bit of walking along one section of track several times until Alan spotted what he was after.

There were a few, not many, of these unusually marked plants.

Such markings are uncommon, but not unknown. Possibly they were originally affected by a virus (as has famously happened with Tulips), but it seems that these plant markings are stable, not variable, nor likely to be an infection, which might otherwise kill these plants off, (or spread to others around them).

Variegated leaves of Pterostylis curta

Variegated leaves of Pterostylis curta

We then photographed some of the hundreds of Helmet Orchids

which were carpeting the ground

along the side of the track.

Corybas fimbriatus, the Fringed Helmet Orchid

Corybas fimbriatus, the Fringed Helmet Orchid

Corybas fimbriatus, the Fringed Helmet Orchid
A colony of them in the sand dunes, in the Littoral Rainforest

We drove along the single lane track which goes the full length of Comerong Island, out to the wharf at Crookhaven River (the redirected Shoalhaven River mouth). The last kilometer of the track had many deep puddles, but they were on solid bases, so, although a little scary (I had visions of cars getting stuck) Alan pressed through quite successfully. Definitely this last bit was 4WD only.

Acianthus fornicatus
This was one of very few in flower, but there
were literally hundreds of leaves of these plants growing
in certain patches of the forest, especially in disturbed areas
(e.g., where NPWS had bulldozed fallen logs
off the road, and into the forest).

Close to where the hundreds of Acianthus were,
we also found a few late blooming Cobra Greenhoods

Pterostylis grandiflora - the Cobra Greenhood

And finally we found a few very bedraggled,
but recognisable specimens of Bunochilus tunstallii

This Bunochilus tunstallii had collapsed,
and the flower had been triggered closed
but I was able to open the flower
to reveal the diagnostic brown labellum.
Bunochilus longifolia has a
cream labellum with a fine dark brown stripe up the middle.

Some Fungi from Comerong Island

Comerong Island is a long sand island, at the end of the Shoalhaven River.

It is in effect, the southern end of Seven Mile Beach.

The flow of the Shoalhaven River has been disturbed, historically, by the diversion of the River via a canal dug by the first European landowner, Alexander Berry. The Shoalhaven River's main flow now is permanently diverted via the Crookhaven River.

"Comerong Island has the largest remaining area of
littoral (coastal) rainforest on the south coast."

Source:

Crookhaven River outlet of Shoalhaven River
Comerong Island with sand beach visible front and centre

The original opening was at "Shoalhaven Heads", but once the canal was dug, the Shoalhaven River has ceased to bust open the sand dunes which now block the original Shoalhaven Heads (some 5 Kms to the north).

Shoalhaven Heads - as seldom seen these days.
The beach is now continuous with Seven Mile Beach
(which extends to the left as far as Gerroa).
Comerong Island is just visible to the right.
It goes for approx 5 Kms
as seen in the image above.

Here are some of the Fungi we found on Comerong Island last Sunday.

A lovely small specimen of
Cryptotrama aspratum

unknown fungus
Not sure if this was a severely decomposed Fungus,
or a Slime Mould

Lovely cluster of small kidney-shaped fungi
with horizontal stems

A small (4 cm tall) black fungus
with no cap, but a solid fruiting body
Possibly Geoglossum sp
The leaves are of a Pterostylis, (Greenhood Orchid)

A lump of soft, sticky yellow Jelly Fungus
Tremella mesenterica
It takes its name from abdominal tissues (mesentery)
which separate key functional organs.
In culinary terms, think of "tripe" (offal).

Unknown gilled fungus with lovely chestnut colour
Too pretty not to photograph
even though I have no idea what it is.

 

A young cap of Russula persanguinea
These Russulas have distinctive stiff
stems which snap like a piece of chalk.

Possible Cortinarius sp.

Stem of possible Cortinarius (as above)
Note the prominent stem ring (annulus)

A wonderful moss-covered log
with thousands of these small pale brown capped fungi
Probably the best colony of fungi we saw.

 

Interesting patterns in the upper cap of this little fungus.
I love the "architecture" of fungi caps.

Possible Cortinarius perfoetens
formerly Rozites foetens

The underside of the same specimen above.

More fungal fun to come

in subsequent posts.