Some orchids at the Betka River

Having received confirmation that the orchid I saw at the start of the Captains Creek FT was the uncommon Pterostylis acuminata I recalled seeing something on the Betka River walk that, with the benefit of hindsight, looked rather similar so I took myself off there to relocate it.

Alas and woe.  My hindsight is about as good as my normal sight (without glasses).  The plant at Betka had no basal rosette and didn't really look like the P acuminata.

I have gone back to our original view that it is a deformed (or still emerging) P. grandiflora or Cobra Greenhood.  We returned here the next day so that Frances could see the "Speculanthas".  The first thing she noticed was a cluster of about 20 P. grandiflora: they were about evenly split between the standard form and these scrawny efforts.

However while there I went for a small explore noting that a number of other plants that looked rather like small greenhoods were growing.  Eventually I found a more advanced specimen of same.  Perhaps 20cm high.

Looking more closely the flowers were inwards facing, which makes them what David Jones helpfully named as Speculantha parviflora.  However his names weren't accepted by some fans of DNA sequencing so are officially kept within the vast genus of Pterostylis and are thus P.  parviflora.  In the excellent book "Orchids of East Gippsland" by the Bairnsdale Field Naturalists Club these are shown as Group 4 Tiny Greenhoods within Pterostylis.  Here are a couple of images showing the flowers in close up.

Unfortunately that lot was a trifle previous as over the following week the flowers "revolved" so that they were't facing inwards!  Thus not "Speculantha".  They are what DJ would call Bunochilus, or the BFN put in a group of Tall Greenhoods.  In taking my photograph on 20 July I triggered the labellum which makes ID difficult but I think it was Pterostylis tunstallii.

I shall return to check.  We did find another (still developing) orchid near Point Difficult which was a lot taller and I think was P. melagramma.  To be watched

On our second visit as we carried on along the track we noticed a cluster of very small (3-5cm tall) greenhoods.

These look to be P. concinna.  While a new species for us our East Gippsland orchid book describes them as "Probably the most common Greenhood in EG...".

But wait!  There's more!  Not steak knives but Pterostylis nutans.  Found beside the Heathland Walk not far from Betka Rd.

That makes 5 species we have found in the last week!