Thursday, March 22, 2012

Shepherd's Crook Orchid

Something that gives me delight is finding new native plants that "arrive" by themselves - spread by birds or other wildlife.

One plant that I suspect arrived in mulch is a native orchid called the Shepherd's Crook or Pink Nodding Orchid  -  Geodorum densiflorum.

The name Geodorum is derived from the Greek ge - earth and doron -gift
It is a terrestrial orchid which is not evident in winter and has a drooping flower stalk in Jan-Feb. The plants here are past flowering but the photo does show a seed pod. Pollination is by native bees according to the web:

http://www.gloriousnebo.org.au/LOR/orchids/Geod.neocaledonicum.html

That site also has a nice photo of the flowers.

We started off with one plant, but in that area there are now 3 clumps and there is another clump, underneath a very sad looking citrus tree,  in a completely separate area.



It seems as if it is common around Brisbane but is a threatened plant in NSW

1 comment:

BernieH said...

Such a lovely little find.