Showing posts with label orchid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orchid. Show all posts

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