I’ve saved a special orchid for Christmas. We only had one of these growing – at least, we only found one. Even then, we would have missed it without our friend’s sharp eyes. At the time the bud was just on the point of opening. We staked it and visited every day to see it open. The open flower didn’t last long. Only a matter of days.
According to David L. Jones “Native Orchids of Australia’ beard-orchids grow from tubers, and soaking rains in Autumn are vital in triggering the tuber to grow, with flowers appearing in Spring and early Summer. Apparently, these orchids don’t like weather extremes.
The plant can bear one to nine flowers and ours had only two. But what spectacular flowers they are!
Similar species are the Copper Beard-Orchid and the Purplish Beard-Orchid. It took me a little bit of time to work out which of these three species our beard-orchid was likely to be. The Copper Beard-Orchid has a similarly coloured beard, but the dorsal sepal is a lighter green and at the lateral sepals are not as heavily striped. It also has a darker base on the labellum. The Purplish Beard-Orchid seems to be shaped differently, and also has white hairs at the base of the reddish/copper hairs.
Enjoy the photographs!
Fifteen Acres 
Lovely, I hope you had a pleasant Christmas and I’m looking forward to seeing more that you find in the coming year.
Thanks Helen. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas too.
Yes, I will certainly keep looking for orchids, and there are still a couple more orchids to post from this year too – among them a couple of Sun orchids, Onion Orchids and a Bronze Caledenia! Lisa
Well done. The Beard Orchids are not easy to identify. Another distinguishing feature of C paludosus is the long, slender, naked apex of the labellum.
Thanks John! I really have to give credit to my friend for finding it. I can’t wait until next year to try to get a photograph which is a little closer and which shows more detils