With autumn almost over, and with no success in tracking down the Large Autumn Greenhood that flowered so well in the last two seasons, we were thrilled to have a report of four of these large-flowered greenhoods in full bloom on private land in Aireys Inlet. Flowering depends upon good autumn rains and they were certainly very scarce this year.
Large Autumn Orchid
The flowering plants lack a rosette and the non-flowering plants form a ground-hugging rosette. If you look at the photo you will see a rosette in the bottom left-hand corner. It was pleasing to see rosettes of the species scattered throughout the site.
We have a small colony of this species off Allardyce track and another small colony in Greenhood Reserve, Aireys Inlet but there has been no activity in either of those sites. We would love to hear if you have seen this orchid flowering anywhere in the district. It is listed as extremely rare in the Anglesea area.
Alison Watson and Margaret MacDonald