Greeetings fellow foxies,
Caladenia drummondii, the winter spider orchid is an enigmatic and beautiful orchid, which I was privileged to see east of Narrogin last week. Unfortunately the spot remains secret because they are uncommon, and someone had already dug up a plant there.
The location had leaf and bark litter on a loamy gravel slope of Eucalyptus neutra (Newdegate mallee) . Flowers are tiny and exquisite, but so well camouflaged that it is very easy to walk over them without noticing. There were a couple of white variants as well.
The winter spider orchid intrigues me. It is the earliest flowering spider orchid, which flowers in unforgiving terrain at a risky time of the year, when rainfall is variable and there are few pollinators or other flowers. 

​I found an excellent winter spider orchid study, which identified the pollinator as an uncommon species (Calopompilus) of spider wasp, which hunts wolf and (probably prowling) spiders.
They observed only males, which approached the flowers in a mating pattern. This suggests that it is being attracted to the orchid by a pheromone.
Adult flower wasps feed on flower nectar, which poses a problem for their survival in late autumn.  Researchers found that the winter spider orchid labellum has a higher sugar content, and the calli are sticky. This is another attractant for the wasps, which can lop the labellum. In the two years studied, only 2% and 10% of the orchids produced seed.
I found a  soldier fly on one orchid, which was loathe to leave it despite gentle poking. I doubt that it is a pollinator, because the flies don't eat much and their maggots are decomposers (probably dung because their numbers peak from may to July).
I was surprised to also see an ichneumon wasp nearby (subfamily Banchinae). The long ovipositor is  for parasitising moth larvae in wood burrows.

Greetings fellow foxies,
Hare orchids (Leporella fimbriata, Latin - hare fringed), is the sole species in the Leporella genus, which flowers in autumn from southern WA to Victoria. They occur in dense patches of small egg-shaped leaves on the soil surface, from which only about 1 in 6 plants flower each year. Plants in the patches are clones. Near the end of each season each plant sends out two rhizome like droppers away from the stem, which sends down a tuber for a new plant.
There are only a few hare orchids in pale sandy soil in Foxes Lair, but lots on the southern end of the Highbury reserve trail in late May/early June.

Ant flights are infrequent, usually in humid weather before a front in autumn. Unfertilised hare orchid flowers compensate by staying open much longer than other orchids. As rainfall decreases and autumn rains become more variable hare orchids are likely to gradually retreat back towards the coast.

Greetings fellow foxies,
Bunny orchids Eriochilus species are endemic to Australia, with six of the eight species occurring in the south-west of Western Australia. In Foxes Lair  the common bunny orchid Eriochilus multiflorus subsp. multiflorus and crinkle-leaf bunny orchid Eriochilus multiflorus subsp. undulatus are flowering now. The common bunny orchid has more flowers per head, prefers gravel soils, and and begins flowering about a week earlier than crinkle-leaf. Flowers have a delightful structure.

After taking many closeup images to see if I could find any difference in flower structure (no), I was mystified by the anther placement. Anthers are covered by a two-part cover (anther hood), which sits almost directly on top of the cave-like stigma. I couldn't figure out how a bee entering the stigma could come into contact with pollen. Examination of flowers at all stages  of maturity showed no difference in the closed anther hood, although I did find pollen inside a finishing flower. Luckily I found  a broken stem with  wilted flowers and brought the sample back for dissection.

Aha, The dissection revealed a pollinium under the anther hood. Here the single anther produces sacs of pollen connected by a filament to a sticky disc called a viscidium. The viscidum dangles out of the anther hood and sticks on a bee that touches it. The bee flies away with the dangling pollen sac and carries it into the next flower's stigma. in the last image below, pollen sacs have been deposited next to the dying flower's stigma. One has burst to release pollen.

May 2023 I discovered a small Swamp Bunny Orchid Eriochilus helenemos patch in a winter wet waterway. Small single-flowered plants with similar flower and leaf to the Common Bunny Orchid.

Greetings fellow Foxies,

I have been reflecting on the recent fire, which severely burnt sections of North Yilliminning and Birdwhistle reserves.
Most plants in our bush are adapted to fire, but both reserves had been unburnt for about 50 years and were littered with dead material, which fuelled a very hot fire.
Annual plant seeds on the surface or seeds retained on plants were obliterated. Survival of seed in the soil varies with depth of burial.
Woody root plants which regrow from soil lignotubers (most eucalypts) and root suckers should survive well and resprout in the next few months.

Geophytes are fire tolerant perennial monocotyledons, which resprout from dormant underground storage organs each growing season - rhizomes, bulbs, corms and tubers.
The ability of geophytes to resprout at the break of the season enables them to outcompete annuals, and they survive hot and frequent fires. Unfortunately, many invasive weeds are geophytes, and some also have contractile roots, which draw them deeper into the soil. Introduced Guildford grass has spread through most loam and duplex soils at the expense of native annuals.
​Rhizomes are swollen underground stems, which are very common in sedges, rushes, Haemodoraceae (kangaroo paws), and  some native lilies. Depending on depth,  rhizomes provide fire resistance, however in the absence of fire, rhizomatous plants can take over from plants that depend on fire for seed germination. The image below shows the effect of a hot fire in Foxes Lair after a decade. The left side (unburnt for decades) has mainly mature rock sheoaks with a dense sedge understorey. To the right, fire has stimulated a range of shrubs to grow  from  buried seed, and has reduced sedge density.

Bulbs have a thickened stem base of modified leaves, which store nutrients. Examples include onions and introduced lilies such as daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, and Easter lily. Some Haemodorum species (bloodroots) are bulbaceous.

Corms are swollen stem bases filled with starch, which sit on the root base. These are very common in native and introduced geophytes. Natives include many lilies, sundews, and triggerplants. Some of our most aggressive introduced weeds (oxalis, freesias, watsonia) are cormous.

Tubers (swollen storage organs which form on roots and underground stems) are present on all our orchids and many native lilies, and many are bush tucker foods.
​Grass trees and zamias have above ground, fire resistant growing points called caudexes.

I will peg some spots in these reserves and see what comes up

Greetings fellow Foxies,
I have been into Thelymitra/sun orchid flowers lately.
Sun orchids have normal petals and sepals like many other flowers. When a Foxes Lair visitor found it difficult to believe that they were orchids, I couldn’t give a simple answer why. It is the fused pistil-stamen structure called the column, but simple it is not, and discovering why was a real journey for me!
The image below shows male (stamens) and female (pistil) parts of a fairly typical Ixia lily.

​In our orchids, the filaments and style have been fused to form the column, which usually contains anthers at the top and the stigma at the base (reduced to a stigmatic plate).
Most orchids aso have a modified bottom petal called a labellum, which acts as a landing ramp and an insect attractor.
​Pollinators are led up the labellum to the stigmatic plate. In doing so they unknowingly collect pollen by rubbing against the anthers at the top of the column, and drop pollen that they accumulated from another orchid.
Blue,cowslip, and sun orchids do not suppy pollen or nectar for pollinators. They rely on visual deception by resembling flowers such as lilies and hibbertias  which do.
One would think it would be easier to supply a bit of nutrition. Perhaps the energy saved from being stingy gives them an edge in very dry seasons. Some produce a scent, most don’t. 

​Sun orchids lack a labellum, and their anthers are not at the top of the column. 
After many hours pondering over the structure of a sun orchid column, I realised that the shape is a compensation for the lack of a labellum, and designed to entice insects to land directly on the column.
The column has an oval sheath below (wing), which surrounds the anthers and stigmatic plate. It pinches at the top and opens again as a smaller hood, to give the overall shape of a hooded cloak.  Thelymitra is derived from Greek words for ‘woman’s hood’
The hood is the most distinctive part of the column, often shaped and coloured like an anther, and having knobs, wings,’ hairs’ and sometimes scent to attract insects. I thought the yellow hood was an anther. It certainly fooled me as well as the hoverfly below (which was too large to pollinate the orchid).
In the wing cavity anthers are separated from the stigmatic plate by a pouch, with a knob on top called the rostrum. 
 How does it operate? Small pollinating bees would land in the hood area, then tip backward to contact anthers underneath and drop other pollen on to the stigmatic plate.
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​Apparently, the anthers from insect pollinated plants remain intact and stick to the bee as a unit. Anthers on self-pollinated species break up, allowing pollen to fall down to the stigma plate.

With flower colour, the shape and protuberences of the hood and wing distinguish sun orchid species. See the variations!

The leopard orchid is the weirdest. In addition to knobs, fringes and cilia, it has a long projection (resembing a priapic little man) called an anther point, which joins the anthers . Leopard orchids are self pollinated, so perhaps bees jiggling the anther point breaks up the anthers to release pollen.The closely related York sun orchid  has a similar column. Interesting that the Lasioglossum native bee in the image is attracted to the top of the column

Being a commited Darwinian I find it difficult to see how all these modifications benefit sun orchids when they are pollinated by similar native bees.
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Another case in point is the beard orchid, which uses pheromones and a bearded labellum that looks like a female flower wasp to a male. Why bother when the orchid pollinates itself? Perhaps the wasp's frantic probing breaks up anthers, but it seems a bit over the top. Still, that is why nature is so fascinating.
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 To quote Charles Darwin. 'Evolution doesn't have to be perfect, just good enough'..