Sunday 21 August 2022

Flowering orchids cascading from on high

A big specimen at eye level

Detailed study of these tiny flowers

Photos Karen McL

On this fine Sunday morning a small group of Batemans Bay Bushwalkers, opting not to do the scheduled medium/hard walk this day, instead headed to a nearby creek to scout for flowering Bridal Veil Orchids . These orchids are variously called Bridal Veil, Pencil or Rats Tail orchids. Even the botanic name has recently changed from Dendrobium teretifolia to Dockrilla teretifolia.

We were in luck. There seemed to be more orchids than ever flowering on the casuarinas lining the creek – possibly due to all the rain. These only attach to casuarinas and in some cases were flowering all along the trunk of the trees to the very top.

On the path to the creek, we noticed a number of burrawangs with dieback similar to that the Bay Walkers had seen on previous walks at Dark Beach in Murramarang NP. The dieback seems to be caused by a white scale covering the underside of the affected leaves, causing them to yellow and eventually die. The burrawang understorey is extensive throughout our forests on the south coast and we were concerned to see that the dieback seems to have spread to this new location.

Thank you, Joan for leading this walk.

Karen