Orchids of Finsbury Estate Part II

FINSBURY ORCHIDS PART II

Over the weekend I showcased half of all the orchid species that I have so far discovered on, or very near to, the estate since I have been here. I will continue here in part two and begin with the Eulophia genus which is characterised by the sepals being larger than the petals and the labellum, which is the attractive, at least to its pollinators, landing-pad-type appendage on the flower, with 3 lobes and a spur or a pouch:

PART II

This, an Oval Crested-lip, Eulophia ovale, is one of three rather similar looking species that I have found here so I will only present this one. The other two species, E. hians and E. zeyheriana, incidentally, are both species that will self pollinate as I mentioned in the introduction in Part 1. This one, though, is pollinated by bees from the Halictidae family, commonly known as Sweat Bees. Those tiny bees that crawl into your eyes and ears while you're sweating on a hot, humid day. All three species are widespread in our grasslands right through summer.

A Twisted-petalled Crested Lip, Eulophia streptopetala, presented in an atypical colour form. This spectacular orchid stands 1,5 meters tall and boasts more than a dozen of these large flowers. On a hot, dry November day a few years ago, I decided to inspect the little gorge that flows into Kwa Puleng, unit 12, from Spioenkop. As I climbed up the dry waterfall I was greeted by this largest and showiest orchid I had ever seen! I struggled to identify it because it has no markings and descriptions of the flower all included heavy blotching. I sent some pictures off to a friend who is an authority on orchids and he said this colour form is only seen when there is no other individuals in the area and so this orchid has been forced to self-pollinate for many generations. This orchid is pollinated by Leaf-cutter Bees from the Megachilidae family. Oh, by the way, I also found a little Vygie flowering near to this orchid on the cliffs and have still not identified it. I have sent it to some people I know and no identification has been forth-coming. Normally I would uproot the little plant and send it in to be identified but I scared that it may be rare. Later this year I will bring somebody in to help me identify it while it is flowering. It will take a bit of climbing, though...

The genus Habenaria is distinguished from others by the presence of two projections on the stigma and, added to a spur, the labellum’s three lobes hang down. This is a Common Bog Orchid, Habenaria dives, and is widespread, although easy to miss because of its mostly green colour, in the higher altitude grasslands, especially around Mount Prospect and above Grilse Cottage, unit 18, from December to February.

Although this Bog Orchid, Habenaria humilior, stands up to 600mm tall, it is still easy to overlook because the plant, including the flowers, are all green. This one is located a mere 2 meters off the Majubane road between Morrin Pools (unit 14) and Tranquility (unit 15) at the highest point just after the junction to the mountain hatchery. Be there in February or March and, with a bit of luck, you will find it.

A Tiny Bog Orchid, Habenaria petitiana, growing on the forest floor. This unnoticeable little orchid with minute flowers grows in the darkest regions of the forests on the estate. Strangely, I have only found them in the steep, narrow gorges of the tributaries to the larger streams. Also, the flowers are really short-lived and only visible in the month of February.

If there is no common name for an orchid, which is the case with most of them, I have sort of created my own common name by using the definition of  the scientific name. Doing this, this Holothrix orthoceras would be called a Straight-horned Whole-hair, and it  is a rather common orchid of the forests of the steeper gorges. It can be found growing as a lithophyte (on rocks), an epiphyte (on branches of trees) or as a terrestrial in deep shade from January right through to June. I find them more often towards the edges of the forests on the steeper slopes.

This orchid would even have a more bizzare name: Besem-shaped Spiculed Whole-hair, Har Har! Fortunately it has a Common name already, it is a Brushy Holothrix, Holothrix scopularia, and it is a small orchid that grows at high altitudes in open grassland in early summer and is easily overlooked. So much so that, although they are supposed to be common, I have only ever seen this one which was located on the eastern slope of Mount Anderson between the KLF road and the summit. The brush-like appearance is caused by the division of the lip in to 5 to 12 hair-like lobes.

These tiny pale orange Bowker's Oily-leafs, Liparis bowkeri, act as a ground cover where they occur in the full shade of the forests. They also flower for the whole of summer and if you search the north eastern forested slopes of the Majubane gorge on our boundary with Whisky Creek, you will find a few colonies. The characteristic leaves covering the forest floor are the easiest way to identify the plant because the flowers are rather non-descript and only stand 10 or so centimeters tall.

This tiny swamp orchid is one of only 3 species that have been placed in the Neobolusia genus, and the only one occurring in South Africa. It is a Neobolusia tysonii and it is very, very easy to miss because of its small stature, mostly green blooms and its habitat preference of moist or marshy grasslands whose grasses dwarf the orchid. I’ve found them around the spring beside the road just south of the Little Joker mine, in the area around the source of the stream  that crosses the Rock Kestrel trail at River Lily crossing which, by the way, is a large sort of eroded depression that is thick with grasses and sedges and a superb place to go orchid hunting in late summer. Like now, but February is best for the orchid in question.. This photo was taken on the south eastern slopes of Mount Anderson which is also an excellent place, because of  its orientation which makes it cooler and moister , to go flower hunting for all types.

One morning in December 2017, while Jessie Green and her Dad, John from Jackpot Cottage (unit 16), were busy raking the newly cut Rock Kestrel trail as part of her community service, I nearly destroyed this Prickly Straightlip, Orthochilus aculeatus. I was throwing large rocks, that I used to mark the trail before I cut it, further from beside the new path and one of them rolled over this orchid. Yikes! I nearly had a heart attack! Fortunately, it appears that the orchid was made of solid stuff because it was no worse off after the incident, as pictured. Although the plant is listed as common, it is the only individual I have found so far. This individual was almost half way between the rocks by the old gate posts and the large burned Protea tree, on the flats just before the decline to K9, on the Rock Kestrel trail..

This Winged Straightlip, Orthochilus foliosa, presents its strange green flowers with a purple throat in the hope of attracting Click Beetles from the Elateridae family (check out the December 2019 blog), who are its sole pollinators. The orchid stands about 300mm tall and, according to the literature, occur in small colonies, although this was a solitary individual. I found it on the flats above Finsbury House (unit 23), between Finsbury House and Grilse Cottage (unit 18).

Otto’s Tree Orchid, Polystachya ottoniana, forms mats, made up pseudobulbs, on top of tree branches and occurs, rarely, in most of the forests on the estate. Pseudobulbs are swollen parts of the stem, filled with stored carbohydrates and water,  that look like bulbs packed tightly together. During the wet season the pseudobulbs fill up but by the time it reaches the end of the dry season, especially during dry spells, they are soft and shrivelled. Epiphytic (air plants) orchids’ roots creep out from these pseudobulbs and over the branches of their host tree and absorb water and nutrients through a spongy layer on the roots called the velamen, which is green when wet and white when dry. The beautiful, delicate flowers which can also be yellow, come out from August to December.

This Transvaal Tree Orchid, Polystachya transvaalensis, is much harder to find than the previous species because it does not have any pseudobulbs covering its hosts’ branches. I found this one in one of the tributary gorges that join up to the Upper Majubane close to our boundary with Whiskey Creek, and it is the only one that I have found so far. This species hybridises naturally with the previous species and, wow, the offspring must look pretty weird.

Previously Corycium dracomontanum, The Black-faced Berg orchid, now Pterygodium dracomontanum, is pretty common in our grasslands for the whole of the summer. Most parts of the flower are green but the sepals turn black after a while and that is the only time they are easy to spot. But if you walk the Rock Kestrel trail and search for them from the path, there's a good chance you will find one, especially in mid summer. these orchids produce oil instead of nectar and so, attract oil-collecting bees as pollinators..

Once again, if you visit the little depression at the source of the stream at River Lily crossing on the Rock Kestrel trail in February and March, you will also likely find a few of these Drakensberg Winged Orchids, Pterygodium hastatum, among all the other species of orchid that grace that little area. This species is also pollinated by oil-collecting bees.

This is without doubt the most robust of the orchids that occur here and its name is suggestive of this - Giant Winged Orchid, Pterygodium magnum. It stands up to a meter-and-a-half tall and occurs in grassland near forest edges. I found this specimen at the source of the first forested gorge that enters the Upper Steenkamps gorge east of Rock Solid (unit 22). There is another individual that blooms just east of River Lily crossing on the Rock Kestrel trail, rather close to the special little area described for the previous species and, at the same time of the year too, between January and March.

The Satyrium genus is characterised by non-resupinate flowers, which means the flowers do not turn upside-down while they develop, and they have 2 spurs per lip. The genus also contains the most well-known natural hybrids amongst its genera. This one, like a piece of fine artwork, is the Crested Satyrium, Satyrium cristatum, and it, subspecies longilabiatum, is the less common of the two subspecies. I have not, however, knowingly seen the cristatum subspecies but one has to look very closely to differentiate between them. This one was photographed on the slopes behind the Miner's Cottage that lead up to Goudkoppies. Flowering between January and March. 

Common in high altitude grasslands throughout the estate in the middle of the summer, these beautiful orchids, the Long-stemmed Satyrium, Satyrium longicauda, are hard to miss because they stand out so, up to 500mm tall and in all shades of light pink to white. Look how long the spurs are. The only insects here with probiscids long enough to reach the nectar in those spurs are Hawk moths from the Sphingidae family (see blog of September 2019), those handsome hovering moths with the looooong probiscid that tries to drink your beer and wine during sundowners.

Late March, a few years ago, while ascending the stairs from the Majubane waterfall to the Whisky Creek lodge south of us, Fraser Moore (again), from Rock Solid (unit 22), and I could not really miss this rather tall Small-flowered Satyrium, Satyrium parviflorum, which stands up almost a meter. But while swooning over it I accidentally broke the stem, which was devastating, and so Fraser had to support it for the photograph, and I have never found another individual since…

Listed as rare in the Red List of South African plants. This little orchid, whose individual flowers are only between 2 and 3mm in diameter, was discovered at the end of January along the stream that carries water from Mount Formosa’s aquifer to the northern waterfall in Steenkamps gorge. It is a Culver’s Splitlip, Schizochilus cecilii culveri, and it is a subspecies of the more common Cecil’s Splilip, Schizochilus cecilii cecilii, which is either white, or occasionally has white sepals and yellow petals, and can be found on the tippy top of Mount Anderson around the same time.

The next time you visit the Steenkamps' waterfalls during the summer, keep a look out for this striking Fringed Narrow-tongue orchid, Stenoglottis fimbriate, growing as a Lithophyte (on rocks), epiphyte (up on trees' branches) and as a terrestrial in the forest. The roots of the orchid are clumps of elongated, fleshy, tuberous growths with robust hairs on them that can attach to almost any substrate and absorb minerals and water from the surroundings. They stand up to 400mm tall and the rosette of spotted, wavy leaves are unmistakable.   

I'm sure you are all orchided out by now but I guarantee that if you give it a try, you may become an orchidophile and then you will have very little time for other things while you are here. I promise, though, that I will keep my eyes and ears open for other interesting stuff here on the estate while you are locked away from this terrible virus, and let you know about them.

Stay safe and we are missing you.