Native Orchid Society of South Australia Inc. PRINT POST APPROVED VOLUME 19 NO. 5 PP 543662 / 00018 JUNE 1995 NATIVE ORCHID SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INC. P.O Box 565, UNLEY S.A 5061 The Native Orchid Society of South Australia promotes the conservation of native orchids through cultivation of native orchids, through preservation of naturally-occurring orchid plants and natural habitat. Except with the documented official representation from the Management Committee of the native orchid society of South Australia, no person is authorised to represent the society on any matter. All native orchids are protected plants in the wild. Their collection without written Government permit is illegal. PATRON: Mr T.R.N. Lothian PRESIDENT: SECRETARY: Mr W. Dear Mrs B. Hawkins Telephone: 296 2111 Telephone: 287 0903 VICE-PRESIDENT: TREASURER: Mr R. Hargreaves Mr R. Robjohns COMMITTEE: LIFE MEMBERS: Mr J. Peace Mr R. Hargreaves Mrs K. Possingham Mr R. T. Robjohns Mr D. Hirst Mr L. Nesbitt Mrs. T. O'Neill Mr D. Wells Mr J Simmons (deceased) CONFERENCE CHAIRMAN: Mr H Goldsack (deceased) Gerry Came REGISTRAR OF JUDGES: Telephone: 332 7730 Mr L. Nesbitt EDITORS: R. Bates & V. Maloney TUBERBANK CO-ORDINATOR: 8 Buckley Crescent Fairview Park S.A. 5126 Mr & Mrs T. O'Neill Telephone 289 2305 Telephone: 43 6535 Views and opinions expressed by the authors of articles within this Journal do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the NOSSA Management Committee. COPYRIGHT: The NOSSA Management Committee condones the reprint of any article within this Journal, provided acknowledgement is given to the source and author. Price: ONE DOLLAR 41 NATIVE ORCHID SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INC JUNE 1995 VOL. 19. NO. 5 JOURNAL JUNE MEETING Tuesday, June, 8.00 pm: at St Matthews Hall, Bridge Street, Kensington. The speaker will be Hugh Possingham speaking on Biodiversity. Doors to the hall will be open at 7.15 pm for those wishing to borrow books from the library or take in items for the trading table. PAGE CONTENTS AUTHOR 42 Diary Dates 42 Coming Field Trips 43 On the Bench 44 Last Months Speaker - Gillian Long 44 Third Australasian Native Orchid Conference & Show Gerry Came 45 Leptoceras menziesii Update Les Nesbitt 45 Cyanicula (Caladenia) deformis Hybrids Robert Bates 46 Trip Report - Hardy's Scrub Gary Guide 47 Australian Dendrobium No. 11 Dendrobium cucumerinum 48 New Zealand Helmet Orchids - First in a Series Edwin Hatch 49 Thelymitra epipactoides Les Nesbitt 49 Rare Orchid - Kill or Cure 50 Growing Western Australian Terrestrials from seed COMMITTEE MEETING To be held at 7.30 pm Friday 30th June at the home of Terry & Thelma O'Neill, 19 Parana St, Flinders Park NOSSA OPEN DAY Sunday July 2nd, 2pm at Noel Oliver's home, 8 Ross Street, Torrensville. August 27th Gary Brooks - 7 acre block & Nurragi Reserve. Details later. 42 DIARY DATES July 2 Open Day at Noel Olivers July 16 Hale and Watts Gully orchid walk Aug 1 Ian St George visiting Adelaide Aug 20 Barossa Gold fields, Sandy Creek outing. Aug 27 Open Day visit to Gary Brook's & Nurragi Conservation Park Sept 17 Mt Gawler Spider Orchid Special Sept 23-24 Spring Show Oct 7-8 South East Adventure Oct 15 Loftia Park bushfire orchids and Kate Hoskins Oct 22 Kyeema excursion Oct 29 Belair Conservation Group Meeting Nov 5 Kuitpo Field Trip, Monadenia threat Nov 26 Christmas Barbecue COMING FIELD TRIPS Sunday July 16th Hale Conservation Park summit walk (morning) and Watts Gully (afternoon). Meet at Williamstown Caravan Park on road to Springton at 10am, Bring picnic lunch if doing both walks and as for any winter walk include warm clothes and umbrella. We will see several Corybas and Pterostylis species which love extreme cold. Sunday August 20th Sandy Creek and Barossa Goldfields. Meet at Cockatoo Valley Post Office and Store at l0am We will see various Corybas species and hybrids as well as Cyanicula, Pterostylis spp. and Cyrtostylis. Nature Conservation Society Messent Conservation Park and Gum Lagoon Surveys, Sept 15th - 22nd. Anyone interested in attending any part of this survey should ring Hugh Possingham on 364 0671. (The orchids of these parks will be at their best at this time.) Kaiser Stuhl Conservation Park 1995 NOSSA Survey Several visits have been made to this park (which can be reached from Tanunda via the Menglers Hill Road). We are mapping all populations of orchids and listing all plant species. 1995 PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION This year's photographic competition is wide open with all entries gratefully accepted. We are looking for the very best that you have and your better entries from previous year's competitions may be resubmitted. We are looking for photographic prints and slides of Australasian Native Orchids that will be acceptable for the National Photographic Competition that will be held in conjunction with the 1996 Australasian Native Orchid Conference and Show. We are hoping for an overwhelming international response to the 1996 Photographic Competition and encourage all who photograph our native orchids to participate. Your entry(ies) will be a very meaningful and significant contribution to what promises to be an outstanding Conference. Submissions for this year's competition should be made to Roger Biddell or Gerry Carne no later than the July (1995) general meeting. If you enjoy taking photographs but do not believe you have any award winning pictures, enter anyway. You may be pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It is almost certain that you will be the harshest critic of your own work - that's human nature. Just remember to participate - Be in It! 43 ORDERS FOR POTS Pot Size Cost ($) Pot Size Cost($) 300mm 2.50 125mm .20 250mm 2.00 100mm .20 200mm 1.00 80mm .15 175mm .50 50mm .08 125mm .40 Order at June or July Meeting or ring Bill Dear 296 2111 ON THE BENCH Terrestrials: Acianthus pusillus (2), A. pusillus (albino), Leporella fimbriata, Leptoceras menziesii, Pterostylis abrupta (3), P. angusta, P. alveata, P. truncata, P. Rogoff, P. Sentinel, P. Trunkfish. (And on the trading table Calochilus, Corybas, Diuris and Thelymitra X macmillanii). Epiphytes: Dendrobium Aussie Child, Dendrobium Aussie Child Wilcherry, Dendrobium Aussie Child Wilpena Sunset, Dendrobium bigibbum X Ellen, Dendrobium Hilda Poxon (6), Dendrobium Kim Heinze, Dendrobium Ku-ring-gai (2), Dendrobium Wesley Pink, Dendrobium Virginia Jupp It was noted that the Acianthus pusillus from the Adelaide Hills had its leaves raised 2 to 3cms above the soil level whereas plants from Lucindale in the south-east had their leaves on or close to the soil. Apparently this is consistent with what occurs in the bush! It was something of a surprise to see the pot of Leporella fimbriata in flower as this species is generally considered impossible to grow. Of course the real test is to see the pot in flower again next year! The Pterostylis alveata were from the Hindmarsh Valley area (near Victor Harbour). The plants were previously known as P. obtusa a species now regarded as a NSW endemic. There has been some discussion suggesting that these SA plants belong to the recently (1994) named Pterostylis atrans but that species has brown tinted flowers with a long galea. Clearly the wholly green SA plants are closer to P. alveata. Pterostylis truncata was said to be more common in cultivation than in the wild, one plant on display had two flowers on the one stem, a large clay pot contained nearly 30 deep red flowers. Despite its dumpy size this is a most attractive species and quite a contrast to the tall P. abrupta which also filled a large pot with some 20 flowers. Peter pointed out that there were plenty of hybrids and no species because there are very few species flowering in May! Les Burgess gave the commentary on the Terrestrials Peter Barnes spoke on the Epiphytes. POPULAR VOTE: Terrestrials: Pterostylis procera grown by Jan Burford. Epiphytes: Dendrobium Aussie Child `Wilpena Sunset' grown by Pauline Rankine. COMMENTATORS CHOICE: Terrestrial Species: Pterostylis procera grown by Jan Burford. Terrestrial Hybrid: Pterostylis Sentinel grown by Bev & Gerald Hawkins. Epiphyte Species: None Epiphyte Hybrid: Dendrobium Aussie Child grown by the Rankines. 44 MEETINGS: Change of format - Minutes of the previous meeting will no longer be read. They will instead be put on display for reading by any interested parties. CONGRATULATIONS TO KAREN POSSINGHAM on her election to Burnside council - Karen will no longer be able to preside over the Conservation group. Many thanks Karen for the fine work done as Conservation Officer. SPEAKER - LAST MEETING: GILLIAN LONG Gillian Long, a local floral artist, explained the significance of her work and gave us an insight into her techniques. Jill paints mainly in watercolours, much of her work is in postcard size (obviously Jill is a conservationist too). She has a particular love of fungi, in fact her fridge often has toadstools in it, stored for painting, which means visitors who look in her fridge usually decline any invitations to dinner! Many of the paintings Jill showed us had both orchids and toadstools. An unusual aspect of Jill's work was her use of painted frames with the floral subjects spilling out over the frames. Gillian is a co-exhibitor at the "In the Footsteps of Matthew Flinders" exhibition at Yarabee in September. Her work can be seen each year on display at the Marion Shopping Centre. Jill began painting while living in the English countryside so that much of her work still has a soft, low light, English look about it. ANNUAL DINNER REPORT Many thanks to Ron Robjohns who organised this (and all previous) annual dinners. This years was great and our best attended yet with over 30 members enjoying great food and great company! See you there next year! THIRD AUSTRALASIAN NATIVE ORCHID CONFERENCE & SHOW SEPTEMBER 25 - 30, 1996 Most Members are aware that the Native Orchid Society of South Australia has been given the honour of hosting the Third Australasian Native Orchid Conference and Show.