Seeking Out Australian Native Orchids #82 - Werakata NP, NSW

I have learned not to look for orchids under the powerlines even in the National Parks. The electricity company cuts the grass and I have a feeling they use weed killer too. I had spied this powerline trail on the way into Astills Picnic Area in Werakata NP in the morning (see Orchids81). I really did want to find the pink orchid on the information board - they do flower at this time of year.

https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/werakata-national-park

I parked up the bike and started my walk up the trail that runs beneath the power lines. The slope is moderate and there clearly has been a lot of water flowing down in the rains. This track looks like a lot we see in the National Parks - they are quite wide as the 4X4's make a new track alongside the old one when the track gets too muddy. This track is now closed except for NP and Energy Company and Rural Fire Service access. The photo shows quite a lot of grass growing - truth is it is quite sparsely spread out and not looking too dry.

I did find some purple orchids and just assumed they were wax lip orchids that I was looking for. A little further up the track I found the white orchid I had seen at Astills. This one has tinges of pink in it. I found quite a few alongside the powerline track and also in a footpath I took into the bush - growing right in the middle of the path.

White Fingers - Caladenia catenata

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

Take note of the fingers on this orchid - not called White Fingers for nothing - and also of the the white ridged calli on the labellum.

Here is the purple orchid.

I just assumed it was a wax lip orchid like the one I had seen in Muogamarra Nature Reserve the previous week (see Orchids79)

or perhaps the one I had seen in Laguna the year before (see Orchids7).

This flower is quite different. The fingers are longer and they look like the Caladenia. The labellum is curved and it has calli on it. The Glossodia does not.

I dive into the reference books I have when I get home (months later mind you) and find reference to a hybrid called a Calassodia.

Calassodia is the name given to the rare natural hybrids that occur between genera Caladenia and Glossodia where the parent plants grow in close proximity

Native Orchids of Southern Sydney - Margaret Bradhurst

Margaret describes a hybrid of the Glossodia Minor and shows a picture that is different to mine - mostly in the fingers and the labellum. The best way to identify the hybrid parents is to find the parents growing in the same locality. Caladenia catenata = done = easy. I did not find any Glossodia

I will show a few more pictures. The keys for me are the white tip to the labellum and the shape of the the hooded part of the column. They look very much like the parts of a Glossodia Major.

We will really only know by visiting the site again next season and to find the Glossodia in flower.

Back to the White Fingers. They represent a big photographing challenge to get focal point on the column and labellum and hoping the fingers stay in focus.

My friend Jan uses focus stacking which is built into one of his cameras. What it does is take a few pictures with slightly different focal lengths. Then one can merge them together to get more of the image in focus. Well blow me down but I discovered through some accidental pressing today of buttons that my camera has the same facility. I gave it a go. Ideally one should use a tripod and have a subject that is not blowing in the wind.

Here is a before image - the first picture taken in the sequence.

A few hours on Youtube later and Photoshop CS2 I merged two of the images. See if you can spot any improvement. Merge accuracy was very, very high though light loss is quite high - I toned that down a bit.

Next photo shows two White fingers side by side - one is quite white and the other has tinges of pink.

Then I chanced upon this little greenhood orchid. The flower is not fully open which makes identification difficult. The colouring and the pointed nature of the galea (helmet shape of the hood) suggests to me Sharp Greenhood. Equally it could just be a bud of a Caladenia forming.

The walk back to the roadway brings a nice view of the Brokenback Mountains towering over the valley and a lot more orchids on the right hand side of the track (the shady side in the afternoon sun).

The next Calassodia has much smaller fingers - so more Glossodia in its makeup than Caladenia. It has the same white tip and the curved column and the yellow calli. This picture feels more like Glossodia Major than Minor

The last picture is of the last orchid I found. I measured out the distance to my bicycle - 5 meters (15 feet).

The eagle eyed spotter will see the blue of the bicycle cross bar just below the cross twig and to the right of the scarred upright twig. To the left of that scarred twig one can see the fence support for the gate. I have a rule about scouring the car park first - in this case the bike park. I did not do this today.

Photos taken with Canon Powershot G16 on September 1, 2017.