Seeking Out Australian Native Orchids #77 - Ku-Ring-Gai Chase NP, NSW

I also wanted to take a chance that the greenhoods that my friend had seen the other day were still in flower. He had given me more precise instructions when we chatted. I needed to pop into the National Park offices to make enquiries about getting access to Muogamarra Nature Reserve. I could kill two birds with one bicycle ride.

I stopped by the National Park offices and made my enquiries. The volunteers told me that access to Muogamarra is only possible on the weekends and that it is open and not during the week. I should be able to cycle in without paying for entry. They were fascinated that I combined cycling and orchid hunting. Oh, and there are orchids growing on the grass areas around the office building.

I cycled up to the entry gate to the park - the orchids are right there says Jan. Well not anymore they are not. I will have to try next year. There is a fire trail that runs at right angles to the road though a mix of heath and dry sclerophyll forest. The picture shows the mix of vegetation quite well - and it sure is a sandy base.

I have found orchids down there before and Jan tells me it is a good location. I park the bicycle up and 5 metres down the track is a purple orchid.

I have seen this orchid once before but not in this National Park. So I know it is a waxlip orchid. Specific identification comes down to size and the split callus on the labellum looking like two match heads.

Small Waxlip Orchid - Glossodia minor

http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Glossodia~minor

Zoom in and the split callus can be seen really clearly. The other characaterisitc is the very fine hairs on the petals and sepals.

Photo work is challenging as these are standing in full sun and it is not possible to keep my body in line of the sun and get the angles I want. A detailed look at the photo shows a small red spot on the right hand lateral sepal. It is some form of infection.

Further down the track I find a sun orchid flowering proudly in the sun. I am thinking it is a dotted sun orchid but it has no dots. The differentiator is the shape of the column which has the fluffy bits and the distinctive black and yellow topping. It is indeed a dotted sun orchid.

Dotted Sun Orchid- Thelymitra ixioides

http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Thelymitra~ixioides

There are more waxlip orchids further along the track. The top down photo shows the split callus really well - it looks like a man wearing a blue cap, a green jacket, yellow trousers and black wellington boots in a rowing boat

Photo work is a little easier as the whole plant is in the shade - note the lack of shadows in the background. Too bad I did not move the green stem of grass out of the way. It distracts me.

I did find at the ticket office building a white orchid which makes a 2nd new find in two days. The orchid is called a White Fingers orchid for pretty obvious reasons with the lateral sepals and petals pointing out forwards like fingers. The dorsal sepal in this specimen is not white like the other elements.

White Fingers - Caladenia catenata

http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?age=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Caladenia~catenata

The real character of the flower is seen from side on with the dorsal petal (labellum) folded back and folding forward and fringed with while and yellow calli. To me it looks like the neck and head of a white swan.

This second photo zooms in better as the calli are more in focus. I have not cropped it - zoom for your best viewing

Lastly I did find a dotted sun orchid with dots - compare the two photos and you will see the column structure is the same with the frilly bits and the distinctive black and yellow parts. Though I do note that this one does not have the yellow section below the frilly white bits.

Dotted Sun Orchid- Thelymitra ixioides

http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Thelymitra~ixioides

Then I stumbled across the Rumpelstiltskin of waxlips - all rumpled up after sleeping in its best purple shirt

The distinctive hairy leaves and spike of the waxlip

This no dots dotted sun orchid does have the yellow bits below the white frilly bits either

They do look splendid when there are many flowers on the stem

And to round out all the great orchid finds there other colour bursts too. This fungus for example

....and this cluster of white flowers

I did go and walk around the grassy bits at the offices - no luck in funding the promised orchids. Too bad. I had had a great time finding 3 orchid types one of which was a new find for me.

As to details of the photo work - the ISO setting I ended with on the day before was ISO-1600. That carried over to today. I should have reduced that to deal with the sun though it did give me all the shots take at f/7.1 - that explains why the focus seems a whole lot better. I could easily have pushed that to the maximum f/8 as shutter speed was all at 1/250 secs or faster.

Photos taken with Canon Powershot G16 on August 23, 2017.