They were growing in the Alcoa Conservation Reserve at Anglesea, flowering in December in the same area as Rosy Hyacinth Orchids, Dipodium roseum, and rare Spotted Hyacinth Orchids, D. pardalinum.
However these two flower stems were so much taller and so much stronger than the other hyacinth orchids nearby. They could only be described as ‘awesome’. At first glance they seemed to be Spotted Hyacinth Orchids with their pale pink spotted flowers. However on closer observation we noticed the labellum, which should have pink spots for D. pardalinum, was indeed different. Of course D. roseum flowers have a striped labellum. Could it be a hybrid between the two species?
Hybrid 1
Hybrid 2
Look closely at the labellum on the flowers; you will see they are a mixture of stripes or bars, and spots. The bars on some flowers vary in length – some long, some short. The hair tufts on the labellum have a fair bit of pink in them, indicating D.roseum. D. pardalinum has white hairs.
Gary Backhouse in Bush Beauties states there is a report of one apparent hybrid at Daylesford and further reports from South Australia.
We are pretty confident that these photos show hybrids between the two species. Enjoy their beauty!
Alison Watson and Margaret MacDonald