Driving up the scarp (Perth is on a big sand plain, with a laterite scarp running North South) I found some D. macrantha, interestingly there were both white and pink flowered plants there. I little higher I saw a rock outcrop, had to stop for a look. Found some D. menziesii some of which were quite intense red unfortunatly they are had to photograph on the orange soil. One plant was in flower at the side of the road unfortunatly it has a pale stem.
There were also D. rasulata (which are nice and red this time of year), D. glanduligera, D. palida, and D. gigantea which were still in early growth. This has been an unseasonaly cold last couple of months and I think this has retarded thier growth.
Traveling to the site where me and Dave found some D. pulchella to see if they were in flower I found the site covered in D. gigantea, once agin still in early growth. There were also D. erythrorhiza and a small number of D. stolonifera. The D. pulchella were not in flower but looked very nice none the less.
Some of the D. giganted were growing in a track and looked worse for being driven on. This one caught my eye.
Heading to the next pygmy site, I was dissapointed to see many had passed away. The ones that were still there looked very nice though.
Looking around the D. erythrorhiza were all going dormant, I also found a good number of D. porecta, but the real surprise was these,
I headed to the next pygmy site. There the pygmys were looking nice, there were two species there, D. pulchella,
And these
At this site the D. pulchella were showing early sighns of flowering :)
Leaving this site I had to head along the road to find somewhere to turn around and spotted this out the side window
D. palida in flower,
Heading back towards home I noticed a patch of white sand and jumped on the brakes to see if this sudden change in habitat would offer any surprises. Sure enough there were masses of D. erythrorhiza ssp. erythrorhiza, the sand growing form.
There were also the odd D. erythrorhiza ssp. squamosa and Drosera erythrorhiza typical laterite form, but in very small numbers compared to elsewhere. I was searching under some trees and saw a D. erythrorhiza ssp. squamosa, then noticed this next to it, another nice orchid I had not seen before!!
Another nice day in the sun
Cheers
George
