Queen of the night reaches top ten

A night-blooming orchid is one of the Top Ten New Species list for 2012, created by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University.

With nearly 25,000 species of orchids known, the astonishing night-blooming orchid, or Bulbophyllum nocturnum, is thought to be the only of its kind. Two scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Leiden University discovered and named the plant for its rare blooming habits. Found in Papua New Guinea, this orchid blooms only at night, between 10pm to the early morning hours when it closes. See more in Orchidmania in November.

This is the fifth year for this interesting record. The list, assisted by a committee of scientists from around the world, was released on May 23.

The 2012 list also features a teensy attack wasp, underworld worm, ancient ‘walking cactus’ creature, blue tarantula, Nepalese poppy, giant millipede, sneezing monkey, fungus named for a TV cartoon character and a beautiful but venomous jellyfish.

Nominations for the 2013 list – for species described in 2012 – may be made online.

Did you know? May 23 is the birthday of the Swedish botanist who created the current system of flora and fauna classification, Carolus Linnaeus. Since Linnaeus created this system in the 18th century, almost two million species have been identified and classified, and scientists estimate that there are between eight and twelve million species total on earth.

PK

Molecular mimicry

Perth scientists have discovered the chemical used by a local orchid to con male wasps into believing it is a female ready to mate.

According to the team, WA native warty hammer orchid (Drakaea livida) pollinates by attracting a male Thynnidae wasp by releasing 2-hydroxymethl-3-(3- methylbutyl)-5-methylpyrazine, a six-membered pyrazine ring, containing two nitrogen atoms and four carbon atomsthat females release when calling for a mate.

The male wasp lands on the orchid expecting to find a female and in the process transfers the pollen from anther to stigma in a process they call pseudo-copulation, according to a recent science article.

The team used gas chromatography with electro- and tenographic detection. The orchid chemically attracts wasps over greater distances, rather than the wasps being visually attracted.

Did you know? The Drakaea orchid is also known as the hammer orchid because of its shape and movement.

PK

Rare slipper orchid is back

Although declared extinct, a rare slipper orchid has returned. Rediscovered in 1930 at a site in the Dales which still remains secret, careful propagation from a solitary parent has gradually increased the plant’s UK population, with sites for new stock regularly and carefully chosen in the north of England.

Kilnsey Park in Wharfedale also has seven other types of orchid among 150 different wildlflowers on its two hectare site, reports The Guardian.

The Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium calceolus, has long been prized for and was coveted by collectors as early as the first decade of the 17th century. In Victorian times, farmers brought them from the Dales to Skipton and Settle markets to sell to curio hunters from the industrial north.

Medicinal gold

The Taiwanese Council of Agriculture (COA) has unveiled a new orchid species for use in traditional Chinese medicine. It contains high levels of polysaccharides that are good for people undergoing chemotherapy.

The Golden Emperor No. 1, which took eight years to develop, is a crossbreed that contains more polysaccharides than the premium orchid species, Dendrobium huoshanense, that originated in China’s Anhui Province, writes local press.

Polysaccharides play a role in stimulating the immune system and can aid the recovery of patients from chemotherapy, said a spokesperson. Eye patients can also benefit from polysaccharides, as they activate the retinal cell layers.

The Golden Emperor No. 1, which will soon be mass produced, takes only two years to grow and can yield 8g to 12g of dried polysaccharides annually.

PK

Modern-day botanical mission

Orchid mania  flourishes in Oxford

Originally from South-West France, Guillaume first encountered orchids as a boy in his grandparents’ garden.

Guillaume Le Texier: Glasshouse Team Member,
University of Oxford Botanic Garden

In a story worthy of Gerald Durrell, young Guillaume was playing in the garden, and came across an intriguing little bee. ‘As I watched it bob and hover, I suddenly realised it wasn’t an insect at all, but a bee orchid (Ophrys apifera), mimicking the form of the insect to attract other bees to come and pollinate the flower.’ At that moment, he had a flash of the intriguing relationship between plant and insect – and orchids in particular.

He was hooked. As he continued to explore, he found another orchid, a Serapia, a tongue orchid common in the Bordeaux region. Even at 7am, he spotted bees inside the flower, and he concluded the insects had used the flower as a bedchamber for the night. He was intrigued by this even more subtle relationship, whereby the orchid lured the bee, but also provided protection for its pollinator.

His interest in the world of plants well and truly germinated, he started out in landscape gardening, but began to develop a more scientific interest in botany, wanting to explain to people how and why plants work, and finding connections between plants and humans in each unique eco-system.

Through the Leonardo da Vinci programme, a European training scheme, Guillaume was employed at the National Botanic Garden of Belgium.

‘One task,’ he recalls, ‘was to rescue stolen orchids retrieved by customs officials at the airport’, sadly a not uncommon occurrence. He rehomed these botanical orphans, almost all of which were bereft of documentation. ‘It became a most exotic collection of forbidden treasures, some worth thousands of pounds.’

Dendrobium in one of the Oxford glasshouses

Sadly, he had to leave them all behind when he landed a position in Oxford in 2010, and is now a glasshouse gardener, and a member of the Glasshouse Team.

In the late 19th century, orchid mania lured plant hunters all over the globe in a desperate bid to track down, dig up and sell rare species for a tidy profit. Guillaume is an example of an enlightened orchid maniac of the modern age.

His interest in orchids, exotic and hardy, is not in acquiring exotic species, but in discovery and conservation, all part of the Oxford Botanic Garden’s mission.

‘While I am fascinated by all orchids, exotic and hardy, I have a particular passion for one particular type – vanilla. I find its whole history quite incredible.’

He is a something of an expert, relaying how the young slave, Edmond Albius first solved how to hand-pollinate vanilla flowers in 1841. ‘Later, when the slavery was abolished they gave him the surname of “Albius”, because of the white colour of the vanilla.’

The speedy method involved using a thin stick or blade of grass to pollinate the vanilla orchid and smearing the sticky pollen from the anther over the stigma. The method is still used today, but Albius died in poverty in 1880.

‘Now, huge amounts of money are stake, and I suspect providers play with the supplies to push the price up. It is a shame that lobbyists failed in improving the trade description of vanilla, so the public knows when real vanilla is used in production, and not synthetic flavouring.’

Of course, he is also a great fan of the flavour vanilla. ‘We have a delicacy in my region that is very appealing – Canelés de Bordeaux – small cakes, flavoured with vanilla and rum. We serve it with coffee, or better still, champagne.’ It would be unthinkable to make these with substitute vanilla, he says.

In Oxford, his goal is to find which species grow best under glass in the botanic garden. ‘I really want to improve the display for the visitors, the students and the school groups. The best achievement would be to have flowers and then vanilla pods.’

The focus is on true species, rather than plants that have been selected, crossed and manipulated by people. ‘It’s also important for conservation and genetic material. Having the ancestors of a crop help to cure potential diseases.’

Guillaume’s interest in orchids extends beyond vanilla. For example, he is keen to dispel the myth that tree-growing orchids such as vanilla are parasites. ‘In the 18th century, French botanist Jean-Baptiste de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829) thought all epiphytes such as Bulbophyllum (pictured) were parasites. He turned out to be wrong.’ But the theory stuck, and Guillaume often finds himself setting the record straight.


In fact, he reckons orchids are plagued by misguided notions, most of which are to do with sex and death. ‘In the Middle Ages, they thought bees originated from dead animals, and so they thought bee orchids were the same. Early Greek philosophers thought orchids looked like testicles, so orchids were used as aphrodisiacs. And still are.’

As for orchid addiction, Guillaume admits: ‘You can’t help but be attracted to orchids. They are very high-tech flowers, with many, many tricks to ensure their existence.’ As orchid fans are well aware, orchids can mimic not just bees, but various forms of wasps as well as using pheromones and smells to attract other pollinators, amongst them flies and moths.

‘Of course, in French literature (such as in Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu), they symbolise beauty and passion and ultimately power. But, orchids are also fragile, especially these days, and need our protection. When pollinators are lost, the orchid is lost.’

This is true whether the orchid is growing in a distant cloud forest or an Oxfordshire meadow, and Guillaume has plans to pursue his interest in local species and work with a local conservation society to promote orchids growing closer to home. ‘You can learn so much from your local eco-system and trace it back to what it depends on for survival.’

PK

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dr Alison Foster, Senior Curator at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden
and
Dr Stuart R. Mackenzie, Tutorial Fellow in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Magdalen College, Oxford.

Bird’s eye view of Oxford Botanic Garden from Magdalen Tower

Photo credits

Bee orchid: © Copyright Ian Capper

Seraphia: Ferran Pestaña

Vanilla, Edmond Albius, Canelés, Bulbophyllum binnendijkii, Cattleya Downiana: Creative Commons
Lamarck’s Encylopédie Méthodique: Botanicus

 

Reichenbach’s revenge

Reichenbach Falls is enjoying some media spotlight – and merits a mention due to an intriguing orchid connection.

Detective fans will know the famous setting of what was intended to be the final encounter between Sherlock Holmes and his arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty.

However, the name will also ring a bell with orchid maniacs, familiar with Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (1823-1889), who became known as the ‘Orchid King’.

Of course, the setting is Gothically splendid, fit for the deadly encounter, and still much visited today. But what is the orchid connection? Moving back to Reichenbach himself, he was born at Leipzig,Germany in 1823, son of H.G.L. Reichenbach, author of the Icones Forae Germanicae et Helveticae. From the age of 18, young Reichenbach took a great interest in orchids, often in association with John Lindley.

After John Lindley’s death in 1865, orchid specimens from all over the world were sent to him for identification – and he became known as the ‘Orchid King’. These, along with his own prodigious collection of scrawled notes and drawings, combined to create an immense herbarium which rivalled that of Lindley’s at Kew.

He was a frequent correspondent, but his letters were often tinged with wit and sarcasm – and more than a twinge of frustration at his perceived intrusion of others into what he considered his domain. Despite the fact that as a student, he had relied on the work of others, he guarded his own herbarium with what could be described as a manic obsession. Orchids can do this to you.

According to an obituary in the Gardener’s Chronicle for 18 May 1899: ‘His devotion to Orchids amounted to a consuming passion; not a scrap, nor a note, nor a sketch, however rough, came amiss to him if it related to an Orchid. To him meals and clothes were necessary evils, but his herbarium was a prime necessity of existence.’

Towards the end of his life, he had led Kew to believe that this herbarium would pass to them. But something happened to change his mind and Reichenbach had a peculiar will drawn up that caused a furore in the botanical world when he died in 1889 – two years before the publication of The Final Encounter. He seemed so fixated on making the correct orchid diagnosis that he wrote of his collection: ‘they will have to be distinctly kept within reach of the men of science after my death.’

Reichenbach bequeathed the lot to Vienna – on the condition they would be locked away for quarter of a century ‘in order that the inevitable destruction of the costly collection, resulting from the present craze for Orchids, may be avoided.’ If Vienna wouldn’t abide by this request, everything would go to Upsala, thence Harvard, or finally to the Jardin des Plantes. Kew was out of luck.

Uproar ensued. The terms of the will were respected, however, and the Hof Museum accepted the Reichenbach herbarium and library. Why the change of heart? Some say it was because Kew had hired a certain Robert A. Rolfe to help with orchid identification. Rolfe was self-educated and rose through the ranks to become an expert on orchids. It must have rankled Reichenbach that a self-taught person could be considered an authority. (Rolfe became the first curator of the orchid herbarium at Kew, founded the magazine The Orchid Review, and published many papers on hybrids of different species of orchids.)

Still, Kew must have been pained to miss out on the ‘Rolls Royce’ of orchid books, entitled Reichenbachia: Orchids Illustrated and Described, named in Reichenbach’s honour. This four-volume 19th century text was a collaboration by German-born orchidologist Frederick Sander which features life-size illustrations and descriptions of nearly 200 orchids by artist Henry George Moon, with text in English, French, and German. Work began in 1886 and lasted until 1890, a year after Reichenbach’s death.

The folio edition measures 550 by 410mm, and several hundred editions were produced at great extravagance regardless of costs, which in 2011 money terms would be in excess of half a million pounds. Only a small proportion of this was recovered from sales.

There was a rare Imperial Edition, of which only 100 copies were made, each measuring an elephantine 750 by 600mm), weighing 20 kilos, or 44 pounds per volume. The people to whom they were dedicated creates fascinating possibilities of dynastic rivalry: Queen Victoria; Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, Empress of Germany and Queen of Prussia; Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia; and Marie Henriette of Austria respectively.

Sander himself, who also became known as the ‘Orchid King’, was also piqued at Reichenbach’s cold shouldering of Kew. In the preface to the second series volume of Reichenbachia, he wrote: ‘It is not too much to say that “savants” all over the world were shocked by the selfish withdrawal of treasure which shold, so far as possible, be made common property for students. That Reichenbach, our honoured chief, should do his best when dying to check the progress of those studies to which he dedicated his life, is humiliating to our common nature. We in England must work on, recovering the stores of information which he has buried – and we shall succeed.’

So, back to Sherlock Holmes and his creator Conan Doyle, and the significance of Reichenbach Falls.

The famous author himself was shown round one Swiss holiday by his host and founder of Lunn Poly and the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club (later the Alpine Ski Club), Sir Henry Lunn. Lunn’s grandson, skier and SIS spymaster, Peter recalled: ‘My grandfather said “Push him over the Reichenbach Falls”.’ Once Conan Doyle had visited the spot, he obviously agreed. A memorial plate at the funicular station reads: ‘At this fearful place, Sherlock Holmes vanquished Professor Moriarty, on 4 May 1891.’

Visitors flock from around the world to capture the epic grandeur and picture the gripping Cain and Abel-style conflict. The scene has been created and recreated in film and television, the latest being the 2011 blockbuster, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, complete with the CGI addition of a fantastic large castle built over them (filmed in Vancouver and Iceland, if you like that kind of detail).

But surely there is more to it than just dramatic Turneresque scenery. Heinrich Reichenbach’s name was in all the newspapers, and the source of much discussion in European circles at his insult to a major British institution. At the very least, there must have been some subconscious element of recognition.

It is easy to imagine Conan Doyle finding the name of the falls redolent with the correct psychological associations, reminding his audience of the shock when the eccentric orchidist must have raised eyebrows in diplomatic circles over his perverse legacy. It is ironic that so many of these illustrations are now free to use via Creative Commons and Wikimedia and other enlightened websites.

Is there also an undertone of European tension thrown in? Reichenbach was German-born, but left his collection to an Austrian institute. Sander was also German, but settled in the UK, with businesses in the US and Belgium. Can one take it further? Did Conan Doyle possibly view Moriarty’s ‘web of intrigue’ as an allegory of Reichenbach's fanatical control over his botanical world?

Like many, did the author suspect that Reichenbach was so jealous of Sander’s success, another ‘orchid king’, that he did everything possible – from beyond the grave – to keep his precious collection away from his perceived arch-nemesis?

Maybe Conan Doyle was a closet orchid maniac. Read this from his 1912 novel Lost World (see below), and see what you think:

‘The road still ascended, and we crossed a rock-studded slope which took two days to traverse. The vegetation had again changed, and only the vegetable ivory tree remained, with a great profusion of wonderful orchids, among which I learned to recognise the rare Nuttonia Vexillaria and the glorious pink and scarlet blossoms of Cattleya and odontoglossum. Occasional brooks with pebbly bottoms and fern-draped banks gurgled down the shallow gorges in the hill, and offered good camping-grounds every evening on the banks of some rock-studded pool, where swarms of little blue-backed fish, about the size and shape of English trout, gave us a delicious supper.’


PK

Captions

Gardener’s Chronicle (image courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden.http://www.botanicus.org)

Reichenbachia: Orchids Illustrated and Described (image courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden.http://www.botanicus.org)

Illustration of Cattleya warscewiczii, 1858 from Xenia orchidacea, vol.1 tab. 31 (image courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden.http://www.botanicus.org)

Reading to fuel your passion

If you’re looking for orchid-related books to use up those Christmas gift vouchers, take a look at The Orchid Trilogy, among the great ‘hidden masterpieces’ of English fiction, according to The Guardian.

This quirky title, which hit the best-seller list recently, comprises three strangely moving autobiographical novels: The Military Orchid; A Mine of Serpents and The Goose Cathedral.

Written by a classic orchid maniac of the first water, Jocelyn Brooke was obsessed by his strange twin passions for orchids and, would you believe, fireworks.

Brooke’s love affair with wild flowers and home-made fireworks began as a boy in Kent. But there was one particular elusive flower that captured his attention. Over three decades and through two world wars, in the deserts of Libya and the woodlands of Italy, in the chalk downs of England, he searched continually for the elusive Orchis militaris, the military orchid.

The stories recreate a poignant picture of England at war and peace in the 20th century. The Military Orchid is something of a comic masterpiece. Kingsley Amis described Brooke as ‘brilliant and exciting’, John Betjeman called him ‘as subtle as the devil’, and to Anthony Powell he was ‘one of the most interesting and talented’ writers to emerge after the Second World War.

Not bad for someone who was sent down from university and struggled to find his way in life as he struggled to become a writer. He was alternately indulged by his family or forced to get a job: he tried (unsuccessfully) bookselling, publishing, even working as a wine merchant in Folkestone. As the 1930s unfolded, he suffered periods of depression and illness. He wrote voluminously but managed to publish only an article on fireworks.

One writer who influenced him most was Marcel Proust, whose A la Recherche du Temps Perdu revolves around themes of time – and well-documented references to cattleya.

In The Military Orchid, Brooke uses botany a way of looking at the world, of categorising and describing other human beings. With great subtlety, he makes out of the botanical obsession – something longed for, but never found – a metaphor for life itself.

Interestingly, Brooke also depicts orchids in his single children’s book, The Wonderful Summer, which revolves around a botanical hoax: the deliberate planting of the rare Ghost Orchid to fool an orchid collector.

Another title for book collectors is Deceptive Beauties: The World of Wild Orchids by Michael Pollan with photographs by Christian Ziegler, published by University of Chicago Press.

Although John Ruskin condemned them as ‘prurient apparitions’, across the centuries orchids have captivated the public with their elaborate exoticism, their powerful perfumes, and their sublime seductiveness. Read of wild tales of orchid conquest, and hear how these flowers can survive and thrive in the harshest of environments, from tropical cloud forests to the Arctic, from semi-deserts to rocky mountainsides. What other flowers, after all, can mimic the pheromones and even appearance of female insects, so much so that some male bees prefer intimacy with the orchids over sex with other bees?

Orchids rate a mention, not surprisingly, in Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History by Bill Laws (David & Charles). Laws is fascinated by the profound impact plants have on our everyday lives and takes us on a colourful tour to the plants that have had the greatest impact on human civilisation – from rice and wheat that feed whole populations, to herbs and spices that are highly prized for their medicinal qualities, with a few diversions past pineapples, sweet peas, mulberry, tulip … and vanilla.

In a world first for online publishing, New Zealand has come up with a Make your own plant books system. It works by automatically harvesting information and images from the New Zealand Plant Network’s website. Site users select any combination of native or exotic plant species, from orchids to moss, to include in their own personalised book. They then select a cover type, write their own title, choose a species to feature on the cover, write their own introduction or select a pre-written one. This innovative conservation initiative is sure to boost knowledge about New Zealand’s natural world.

Keep an eye open for a seminal orchid book due out later this year, although perhaps not your typical coffee table volume.

Orchidaceae is the largest monocotyledon family and perhaps the largest plant family in terms of number of species, approximately 25,000. However, it remains one of the least understood. The fossil record is poor, and active research has been relatively scarce until recent years, in part because of the sheer size and cosmopolitan distribution of the family.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has squared up to the issue. With one of the oldest collections of living tropical orchids and more orchid scientists than any other single scientific institution, it is appropriate that it has made itself the hub for the monumental series on orchids. Genera Orchidacearum (GO) is set to run to stonking six volumes. Numbers 1-5 have been published and the last one is scheduled to appear in 2012.

Each volume offers a comprehensive treatment for each genus, including complete nomenclature, description, distribution (with map), anatomy, palynology, cytogenetics, phytochemistry, phylogenetics, pollination, ecology, and economic uses. Cultivation notes are included for those genera known to be in hobbyist collections – complete with line drawings and colour photographs. Although priced at £125 each, these are surely the ultimate in orchid reference.

PK

Floral extravaganza

Cuttings #6, December 2011

America’s big New Year celebration The Tournament of Roses Parade is being rather overtaken by orchids – at least on Paramount Pictures’ float celebrating 100 years in showbiz.

‘Unforgettable’ moments and images from its past, present and future, will begin with World War I plane from William A. Wellman’s 1927 silent-drama Wings. To begin with, crisp white stars created in sweet rice and dendrobium orchid florets will float over the lush red carpet gardens running the entire length of the float. Other displays honour such iconic vehicles as Greased Lightning and the USS Enterprise, created in white coconut chips with accents of silverleaf protea petals and black seaweed. The spectacular entry concludes with real fireworks and ‘floral explosions’ created in thousands of yellow Oncidium orchids, orange Star 2000 roses, yellow Gold Strike roses, gold hybrid Vanda and James Story orchids.

A more traditional orchid is the star in the Philippines, which now has two national flowers, after officials declared the ‘waling-waling’, or Vanda sanderiana, as the new national flower of the Philippines together with the sampaguita, according to local press.

Sampaguita is native to India and Arabia while waling-waling is not only indigenous but endemic to the Philippines. In fact, the Philippines is home to more than 1,000 species of orchids known for their exotic beauty, and some claim the the rarest and most beautiful of them is waling-waling, also known as the ‘queen of Philippine flowers’.

One of the largest orchid species in the world, it has become the most sought-after flower in Mindanao for its large and colourful hybrids, growing on tree trunks in the rainforests of Davao, Sultan Kudarat, and other parts of Mindanao.

It blooms only once a year, between July and October. However, the continuous plunder of this prized specimen has brought it to near extinction.

The disappearance of a once-common species of orchid bee from forests in Brazil highlights the fragile balance of nature. The Atlantic coastal forest biome in Brazil was once a contiguous and unique ecosystem, but is now fragmented, and has turned into an archipelago-like series of forest remnants.

André Nemésio of the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia collected more than 1,600 specimens as part of a survey to see if the Euglossa marianae, present 40 years ago, was still there. This was the first survey of orchid bees in three forest reserves. The good news was that a different orchid bee was dominant at each of the three sites. Sadly, the target species, Euglossa marianae, had seemingly vanished altogether, raising the possibility that it is extinct.

Orchid bees occupy a special place in evolutionary biology. The Various Contrivances by Which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects by Charles Darwin revealed orchids’ astonishing adaptations for attracting pollinators. Euglossine or orchid bees have equally impressive adaptations. According to Nemésio, males that visit orchids have specially modified legs that allow them to gather and retain esters later used in female attractants.

The apparent disappearance of Euglossa marianae is a ‘wake-up call’ to pay attention to the implications of habitat fragmentation and to monitor the status of species sensitive to change, according to a report.

Thousands of Burmese orchid traders are flouting a legal requirement to register their business, a government official has admitted.

Apparently, most orchid growers and sellers had no idea that they were in breach of the Protection of Wild Animals, Wild Plants and Conservation of Natural Areas Law, which also precludes selling cut orchid flowers without a permit.

No-one is allowed to pick orchids, such as the well known Dendrobium nobile (pictured) from the wild – and those who want to grow orchids for commercial purposes must register, said the ministry, which is now running education programs, while also focusing its attention on clamping down on the export of wild orchids, mostly to China where they are highly sought after for use in traditional medicine. One minister said: ‘They believe tissue which is situated in the stem of some orchids can prevent cancer cell extension and sometimes it can cure cancer as well. People also believe if they put this stem into their tea they will look younger and be healthier.’

There are officially 841 orchid species but experts believe there could be as many as 1,500 if more extensive surveys are conducted.

TRENDS, short for The Transect for Environmental Monitoring and Decision Making, is gathering historical data to determine any changes. Flowers are changing their flowering times, such as orchids flowering 20 days earlier that they once did. In some places whole plant communities are changing their composition.

Experts are unsure if this is due to climate change, but new evidence will allow them to predict how these systems are going to change in the future. Scientists have programmed an iPhone app and science program on the popular Heysen Trail walking trail. Follow progress on the website.

Meanwhile, in northern Tasmania, local enthusiasts are making a difference by monitoring an amazing orchid-area with 50 different orchid species in 20 hectares of coastal bush.

One of Tasmania’s biodiversity hotspots is not far from Port Sorell, adjoining the main road from Devonport to Squeaking Point with farm land on every side, yet it hosts hundreds of species of native plants and the variety is phenomenal.

Robin Garnett and Phil Collier are monitoring and documenting what's present and are actively managing their patch, to keep the balance right.

PK