I was able to spend just a couple of hours in Bidjigal Reserve, after a farewell lunch for one of council's Bushland workers who worked out of the Baulkham Hills Community Nursery where I am a volunteer.
There are about 2 dozen terrestrial (ground) orchids listed as growing in this and the adjoining reserves, and I was lucky enough to find 3 of the winter/spring flowering ones.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Epacris sp. (probably puchella, but hoping for purpurascens)
Could be 1 of 2, still finding out.
Epacris sp.
Pink form of the above.
Fruits of Elaeocarpus reticulatus - Blueberry Ash.
Acacia ulicifolia - Prickly Moses.
Acianthus fornicatus -
Pixie Caps, Pixie Orchid.
One of the terrestrial orchids.
Acianthus fornicatus - Pixie Caps, Pixie Orchid. (as above)
One of the terrestrial orchids.
Lindsaea microphylla - Lacy Wedge-fern.
Heartwood and old flower-cone of Banksia serrata both have
a similar star-burst design.
Acacia linifolia - Flax-leafed Wattle.
Acacia linifolia - Flax-leafed Wattle.
+
How it got it's name,
Omalanthus populifolius - Bleeding Heart.
Persoonia linearis - Narrow-leaved Geebung.
Persoonia linearis - Narrow-leaved Geebung.
In several stages of pregnancy.
Pterostylis longifolia - Tall Greenhood.
One of the terrestrial orchids
Pterostylis longifolia - Tall Greenhood.
One of the terrestrial orchids. (as above).
Acacia suaveolens - Sweet Wattle.
Today's fungi.
Pterostylis nutans -
Nodding Greenhood, Parrot's Beak Orchid.
One of the terrestrial orchids.
Pterostylis nutans -
Nodding Greenhood, Parrot's Beak Orchid.
Growing in 2 inches of leaf litter on large rock.
(apologies for the photo quality)
Pterostylis nutans - Nodding Greenhood Orchid
Drosera peltata - Pale Sundew, Shield Sundew.
TODAY'S LANDSCAPE / HABITAT.
Red gum, lichen and moss.
Sydney sandstone bushland saved by being
too steep to build on by early developers.
Houses are behind me on the ridge tops.
'Phantom of The Opera'
Organ pipes and mask in rotting tree stump.
No soil so the tree root just oozes out over
the rock.
Viewed from other side.
And where the trunk flows over the rock,
nearly becoming one.
Mount Banks, named after Sir Joseph Banks by George Caley in 1804. At 1,049 m (3442ft) Mount Banks can be seen from Sydney. The first two-thirds of the walk, the terrain is the standard sandstone of the Sydney and Blue Mountains regions, with a thin, rough scrub. After this there is a volcanic basalt plug which gives rise to a different vegetated environment with weeds such as Scotch Thistle, Stinging Nettle, even Forget-me-nots growing because of the more richer soils.
