Australian Orchids
Orchids are known for their exquisite flowers. Orchids are the largest family among the flowering plants in the world with more than 30,000 species identified. Orchids are distributed in most of the countries and are especially prolific in the tropical regions, where
the majority of the orchid species grow on the trunks and branches of trees. In the temperate regions such as Southern Australia, most of the orchids grow in the ground.
In Australia there are about 1,200 to 1,400 orchid species in which about 80 per cent of
these not found anywhere else in the world. A large number of these also have some extremely specialized adaptations which has not been seen elsewhere in the orchid family. The endangered Blue Orchid (Durabaculum Nindii) of North Eastern Queensland is an example of one
of the 1,200 native Australian orchids. The Common Dragon Orchid (Drakonorchis Barbarossa) is an another example of a unique Western Australian ground orchid that mimics a wingless female wasp to entice the male to mate and to effect pollination
Take for example
two species of native orchids spend their entire life-cycle underground, and many ground orchids from Southern Australia have become so specialized that they can deceive and also lure the males of a single species of insect to their flowers to ensure pollination. The
scientists who are studying orchids at the CPBR use the Australian National Herbarium orchid collection of around 48,000 dried specimens, 19,500 spirit-preserved specimens of orchids and 18,500 cards of dissected flowers as well as the collection of various live plants
at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. The licensed collectors of the orchids in Australia send the orchid specimens to the CPBR which they gather from the bush across Australia.
The West Australian orchids, which are generally all terrestrial, cannot be
compared to some found in Brazil, the Malay States, India, and other tropical places, for size, vividness of color, and bizarre marking. But due to their delicate tints, dainty fragility of form, the curious structure of various orchid species, and their methods of
fertilization, constitute to the beauty that endears them to young and old, and the special characteristics that fascinate the botanist. The variety of Australian orchids includes the endemic genus Rhizanthella, members of which complete their entire life cycle underground.
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