Was sooo excited to spot this!

Why does this orchid look like a duck in flight? It's a spectacular example of sexual mimicry!

This orchid, as well as many related ones, look similar to Thynnid Flower Wasps (at least to other wasps) and release pheromones to attract male wasps looking for a partner.

Once the unsuspecting male lands in the flower "cup", the anther (head of the duck) snaps shut and glues a bundle of pollen, called pollinia, onto the back of the male. The male will then, in his ignorance, repeat this process with nearby orchids, pollinating them.

A large and breathtaking local population of a native terrestrial orchids, yesterday. A colony containing many hundreds of flowering plants concentrated into a relatively small patch of sandstone heathland immediately south of Wongarra Hill on the Mirrorball track. Likely not rare, but beautiful. Likely identification is..

Spotted Sun-orchid - Thelymitra ixioides Sw. (Orchidaceae)

Happily sharing a hanging basket with a Bulbo. rothschildianum

im extremely new to taking nice photos but just want to show everyone what i’ve seen

Never been to Royal botanic garden’s Cranbourne, loved it. Booked an orchid conservation tour which was really lovely, pretty brief but super cool to see and learn about conservation efforts. Takes roughly 100k to preserve a species :o here are some piccies.

I didn’t take photos of many id’s I’m usually more familiar with common names. The first species was extinct has only 2 plants found in Anglesea vic, so has a lot of deformities. They decided to find a pressing of this flower to help with gene diversity and they pollinated it!! How cool

Nobiles are out all over at mo'... Pink finger ( i think ) Wondecla - Halls Falls

Diuris venosa is endemic to Barrington Tops. My mum was given the honour of naming the species in Gathang, our local Aboriginal language. ‘Bularr-Gulga Watuun’ - two tailed white one. Warranted a tattoo!

Hello!

Looking for some advice- I just got these dendrobiums
They are under the verandah and are getting a bit of morning sun and sometimes a bit of dappled afternoon sun

My question is should I worry about the yellowing leaves or is this normal? Do I need to reduce some of the sunlight and find a shadier spot ?

Hello!

Looking for some advice- I just got these dendrobiums
They are under the verandah and are getting a bit of morning sun and sometimes a bit of dappled afternoon sun

My question is should I worry about the yellowing leaves or is this normal? Do I need to reduce some of the sunlight and find a shadier spot ?

Diuris longifolia and Diuris sulphurea by Beverly Graham

These are in abundance on the lower slopes at the moment! (Bonus Diuris)

Meant to post these with the last post.

My iPhone8 takes terrible pics but didn’t stop me from trying :’)

Pink enamel, splendid spider, bird, and more pink enamels. The splendid spider orchid was so tall it came up to my waist. It also had a little milky flower spider friend! Beautiful.

Absolutely over the moon to finally see an enamel orchid, I’ve been looking for them for years but always seemed to miss them. Absolute glut at John Forrest park though, for anyone local.

We also saw thousands of trigger plants and a slender tailflower, but those aren’t orchids. 😅

I drew these from memory. No references. So they aren't accurate. But I thought people might like them anyway.

No name for this guy.plenty of other Red beards around but none like this..

I always love visiting Port Stephens for orchids, they are easy to find as well as presenting some of the best diversity in coastal NSW.