Orchids are flowers with three sepals, three petals (one of which is modified into lip) and instead of stamens and stigmas in a more typical flower, they have a column which is a combination of both. The lips and coloums can be very ornate and are often the visual cues we use to identify them.
Many orchids have complex and specialised reproduction process. Generally speaking flowers offer rewards to their pollinators in the form of nectar or edible pollen. Orchids have evolved a few different strategies to achieve pollination.
Some do it by means of sexual deception. Many have only one pollinator and the insect visiting does so because he mistakes that particular species over and over for his mate and in the process of trying mate with it he gets the pollen attached to himself which is then transported to the next flower he visits. This can happen because in some of these insect species the males mature slightly before the females so the flowers are the closest thing they will see to a female for a little while. It also demonstrates that timing in nature is very important. If the wasps for some reason matured before or after these orchid flowers then nothing would pollinate them.
Although we know about the pollinators of many flowers there is still a great deal we have yet to find out. One of the really common orchids- the Waxlip, we still don't know what pollinates it.
The spider orchids are often associated with wasps trying to mate with them.
Some orchids like some of the sun orchids can self pollinate. There are also those that mimic other flowers that do produce nectar, and so get visited by its pollinator in the expectation that there will be a reward (the nectar). The donkey orchids are very similar to the many pea flowers in the area and so are visited because of a visual similarity. Odour from nectar bearing flowers attracts them to the area but when they get close it is visual.
If we somehow could remove insects from the picture many of these flowers would disappear to. There are many complex relationships between organisms that we have still yet to work out but we should look at each species like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Imagine we started with the complete picture and as we encroach on these areas that we don't understand properly we are removing pieces, each time another species disappears the picture is a little less clear. If we loose too many species the picture wont be coherent at all. With the many endangered species here, quite a few in the orchid family, it is time we started thinking more about how we look after what we still have.
0. Flying Duck orchid
1. Hyacinth orchid
2. Hyacinth orchid
3. Hyacinth orchid
4. Hyacinth orchid
5. Hyacinth orchid.
6. Sun orchid - Great Sun Orchid. Thelymitra aristata
7. Sun orchid- Great Sun Orchid.
8. Sun orchid- Great Sun Orchid. These orchids are some of the most impressive because the spikes of flowers are taller than most other sun orchids and they generally have a lot of flowers on the spike. They only open on really nice warm sunny days so it is like they come from nowhere. (sun orchids get their name from the fact that they genarally need warm sunny days to open.
9. Sun orchid
10. Pale-flowered Sun orchid. T. pallidiflora
11. Pale-flowered Sun Orchid.
12. Blue Star Sun orchid. T. holmesii
13. White Sun orchid
14. Sun orchid- Large Spotted Sun Orchid
15. Sun orchid
16. Sun orchid- Large-spotted Sun Orchid. T. juncifolia
17. Sun orchid
18. Twisted Sun orchid. T.flexuosa
19. Sun orchid - Salmon Sun orchid. T.rubra
20. Blotched Sun orchid. T.benthamiana
23. Sun orchid- Rabbit Ears. T.antennifera
24. Bluebeard orchid. Caladenia deformis
25. Onion orchid- the flowers of these orchids are only a few mm across. The plant itself is only 4-5inches /100 -120 mm and are easily overlooked. Sometimes these little green plants are so numerous and the green stands out that they look like weeds. Years ago when I first found these I was really surprised to see that they were actually tiny orchids.
26. Notched Onion orchid
27. Leek orchid
28. Leek orchid
29. Donkey orchid. Diurus orientis
30. Leopard orchid. D.pardina
31. Leopard orchid
32. Beard orchid
33. Bearded
34. Fringed Hare orchid. Leporella fimbriatum
35. Horned orchid. Orthoceras strictum
36. Horned orchid
37. Common Bird Orchid. Chiloglottis valida
38. Gnat orchid. Cyrtostylis reniformis
39. Mayfly orchid. Acianthus caudatus
40. Mayfly orchid
41. Mayfly orchid
42. Mosquito orchid. A.pusillus
43. Spider orchid - Heart orchid. Caladenia cardiochila
44. Spider orchid
45. Spider orchid
46. Spider orchid
47. Spider orchid
48. Spider orchid
49. Spider orchid - Greencomb Spider orchid
50. Spider orchid- close up of Greencomb Spider orchid.
51. Waxlip orchid. Glossodia major
52. Waxlip orchids. They are usually a blue/mauve colour but as seen in this pic above they can vary from white to mauve.
53. Tiny Caladenia. Caladenia pusilla
54. Blue Fingers. C.caerulea This is not a common orchid in Anglesea. This is the only one I have found - the blue colour stands out from its surroundings.
55. Plain Fingers. Caladenia sp. aff. vulgaris
56. Angahook Fingers. C.maritima
57. Pink Fairy. C.latifolia
58. Tall Greenhood. Pterostylis melagramma
59. Nodding Greenhood. P.nutans
60.Large Bearded Greenhood. Pterostylis sp. aff. plumosa 3 (Anglesea)
