Introducing some of Australia's native orchids.

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After purchasing my first native orchid this year, I’ve been doing a bit or research on the topic, and I thought I would share a little bit of information.

We have over 100 genera of orchids growing here in Australia with around 800 different species. They can be divided into epiphytes – the tree growers and the rock growers – and then there are the terrestrial orchids – the ground dwellers.

The terrestrial orchids far outnumber the epiphytes. The poor old epiphytes only make up around one-quarter of our native orchids – and they mostly grow across northern Australia.

In this blog I’m going to show a few of the epiphytes – they’re regarded as the easiest to grow and it is the Dendrobiums that most consider the best of the epiphytes.

This one is Dendrobium speciosum var. curvicaule – just beautiful with its pure white flowers. This variety is found up in the rainforest areas north of where I live.

Now for a beautiful natural hybrid – Dendrobium x delicatum var. kestevenii

Here is Dendrobium falcorostrum – which occurs almost exclusively on the beech trees in Lamington National Park, New South Wales.

Next is Dendrobium kingianum – often called the pink rock orchid

This next beauty is Dendrobium ‘Bardo Rose’ – a deliberate cross between D.falcorostrum and D.kingianum and it was one of the earliest registered hybrids between Australian Dendrobium species.

Dendrobium monophyllum – grows in large clumps on trees in rainforests and rainforest verges and rocks in open forests.

This is Dendrobium linguiforme – often referred to as the Tongue Orchid because of its wrinkled tongue-like leaf. This one is a native of my state and grows along the eastern coast.

Now to move away from the Dendros – here is the humidity loving Sarcochilus hartmannii

Now the Sarcochilus ceciliae – usually grows on rocks in creeks and gullies around Brisbane here in my home state.

This is Sarcochilus hillii – which grows on twigs, branches and trunks of trees in open forest around Brisbane. It’s quite similar to Sarcochilus ceciliae.

Onto Sarcochilus spathulatus – which grows in rainforests around Brisbane on trunks and branches of trees.

Hope you enjoyed this quick glimpse at some of our natives.
(All photos used are copyright free and free to share).

• 10 Nov, 2009
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