Yesterday I spent an enjoyable morning searching for orchids with friends. We found many Greenhoods of varying types, and many more leaves or buds indicating that a number of species were about to burst into flower – Spider Orchid, Sun Orchid and Waxlip Orchid among them. Try as we might, we didn’t find one of these in flower.
As luck would have it, my camera battery died halfway around, so I took another walk later in the day. It was worthwhile because I found the first open Waxlip Orchid flower for the season.
More photos coming on the weekend – it has been a busy month!
Fifteen Acres 
Is it very small? Quite cute!
The flower in this photograph is on a stem that is probably 20 cm long, and the flower is approximately 4 cm wide. My field guide says they can grow on stems that reach 30cm and the flower can be as large as 5 or 6 cm across, and that the colour can range from pale mauve to purple.
The stems are quite thin, and it is so easy to walk past the Orchid until the bud opens to reveal that bright spot of colour among the bushland greens and browns.
Sometimes from image that is hard to tell the flower size…thanks for the info! It is a pretty orchid and it is not as small as I original thought! 🙂
Yes, it is difficult to imagine the size from a photograph. I will take a ruler out with me next time, and try to show size of some of the Greenhoods, Mayfly Orchids and Gnat Orchids too – they are so tiny!
Thanks!
So nice……
Lovely!, You are so fortunate to have a variety of native orchids on your property!
Thank you… and yes, it IS fortune. We had no idea they were there when we bought it. Drawing on what local people have told us, it appears the bushland part of our property has never had livestock on it, nor has it been cultivated, so it is essentially natural bushland. The size of our block is relatively small but we are fortunate to have a few different micro-climates, which means a variety of fauna and flora. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Lisa