Wildflower series - Tiny ground orchids

This was a new discovery for me, I noticed these little greenish flowers and on closer inspection I thought they looked orchid-like. When I looked them up , I discovered that they are in fact orchids, part of the Bonatea family. They are easily overlooked because they are so small but they are fairly common throughout the region. This type is Bonatea Antennifera and it grows in dry areas of high altitude in the shade of other plants, as this one does in among the cosmos. It survives fire and frost because it has an underground tuber.

These orchids are pollinated by hawk moths and like all orchids, it does so by mimicking the facial features of these large moths and the pollinaria sticks to the moth's eye. Since these plants only grow from seed, it must be fairly successful, as there are a number of plants dotted around in this location.