www.walkinginthewimmera.comSeptember 2016

Text and photos by John RichardsMember Horsham and District Orchid Society Inc.

It is now early September 2016.

There has been a considerable amount of rain and with the rain there is hope for a better

season for orchids. The winter flowering ones were a bit disappointing in the Dimboola area.  Towards the end of August I walked around the ‘Mallee Scrub’ which is just a few hundred metres from my home and there was little to see. The patch of Cyrtostylis reniformis was easy to find with many hundreds of round leaves sitting flat on the ground but only two damaged flowers could be found. Always hopeful and having been told that things were happening at Kiata. I had a second and worthwhile look in the ‘Mallee Scrub’ about ten days later. The Caladenia carnea (below) were now showing. So often these little gems are ignored but I find them a most beautiful little orchid, especially if photographed well and enlarged.

 It was not long before I was seeing Daddy Long-Legs in the area I had been just 10 days before and saw nothing. This area is now covered with grasses and weeds after a burn a couple of years ago making the buds of these orchids almost impossible to see. I did see was a triple header on a track with the top bud looking forward and one of the lower buds to the left and the other to the right. They needed a few more days so some branches were placed to protect them from being walked on. These branches did not stop the rabbits or something else from eating them off.I was not going to give up so I decided it was time to dodge the rain, strong winds and keep looking.  I have called the photo (below) Misty Morn, and I believe the orchids are Caladenia capillata or White Daddy Long-legs. The single plant on the right typifies the informal style of these large but fine orchids.

www.walkinginthewimmera.comSeptember 2016

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September 7th there was the opportunity to go to the Kiata area and it did not disappoint.

First stop was where I have previously found Caladenia filamentosa - Red Daddy Long-legs. While the numbers were down they were certainly there. They are not completely red but they certainly are more red than white and stand out from all the others. There was just one clump of six plants whereas previously I have found up to six clumps growing in an open area under shrubs in buckshot gravel and sandy clay.

Below is a photo below of a Caladenia capillata. The Spider-Orchid CD on the Genus Caladenia and

its relatives in Australia by Gary Backhouse is a great production but has left me more confused, as it has thrown in some more very interesting possibilities so I will not make and definitive statements as to names. As stated many times ‘Walking in the Wimmera’ simply is what I see and enjoy on walks around the Wimmera. In the photo on the right the plant has red tones in the flower stem, sepals and petals are red. The photo also shows the bare ground where these often grow with minimal shade protection and exposed to the wind as the photo shows.

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Every orchid photographed so far has been within two or three steps from the road, this one

below would be about ten steps. While I have seen them before in this reserve the usual place was disappointing with very few orchids of any kind. Keep in mind the area I am speaking about would only be ten metres across. Below is one of the two the white forms of the Pheladenia deformis found on the day.

Pheladenia deformis + Glossodia major = Calassodia tutelata. It is the second time I have found this one

in the area. The first was about six years ago and about a metre away. Gary Backhouse notes the following “This is a natural hybrid between Glossodia major and Pheladenia deformis, most closely resembling G. major in appearance.” What caught my attention on the day was this inflorescence that looked similar to the mass of blue deformis was that this one had a tinge of mauve and on closer look both the labellum and leaf were different. The single leaf was short and broad like the Glossodia major

and the lip was pointed and lacked the long bristly calli seen on the Pheladenia deformis. One group of other plants looked identical to the deformis as far as the flowers were concerned but they had the short broad leaf.

Photos - Far left, Pheladenia deformis - White form. Top centre Glossodia major which

ranged in colour from white to purple. Bottom centre Pheladenia deformis and right is the cross called Calassodia tutelata.