Meeting up with Debbie in Cranbrook this morning. I drove down from Katanning, and she drove up from King River. So, the plan is to take a winding route back to Esperance over the next the next 3 days, with regular stops to search for orchids. After grabbing a cuppa from the Cranbrook store, we head up the Great Southern Highway, but only get as far as Pootenup Nature Reserve, where we pull over for our first exploration. This is a new location, so we are hopeful of finding some orchids.

First up some large Green spider orchids (Caladenia falcata), also called the Fringed mantis orchid, are found with many twins flowering. They can have up to 3 flowers per orchid, so twins are nice to find. They are a common orchid, flowering between Wongan Hills and Jerramungup, from late August to October.

We thought we found a lot of Green spider orchids, but the number of White spider orchids was unbelievable. From the location I feel the large white spider orchids to be the Stark white spider orchid (Caladenia longicauda subsp. eminens), which flowers between Moora and Esperance, during August to early October.

However, some of the white spider orchids are smaller with thinner labellum and shorter fringe segments. After checking the references these ones may be the Tangled white spider orchid (Caladenia longicauda subsp. redacta) which occurs between Collie, Mount Barker and York, growing in sandy-clay soils and seasonally moist flats in forests and woodlands. I will post some pics for you to decide if I am correct in the identification. If not, please let me know.

Other orchids are also found interspersed between all the large green and white spider orchids. A lone Jug orchid (Pterostylis recurva) with 5 flowers in various stages of bloom is one of these. From the reference books having five flowers is somewhat rare, so this is an exciting find, for such a common orchid. Another common orchid found, though not too common at this location, is the Common bee orchid (Diuris decrementum), which is often found growing in clumps and occurs from north of Perth to east of Esperance.

Another common yellow coloured orchid is found but again not common in this location. The Cowslip orchid (Caladenia flava subsp. flava) differs wildly in its markings, as shown by the two specimens found. One has red lines and dots whilst the other is mostly dots. Where the various subspecies overlap these variations cause confusion in making a positive ID.

A hybrid orchid is found which should not have come as a surprise as the probable parents are both found in large numbers. That said, finding a hybrid is always exciting. The named hybrid, Wheatbelt spider orchid (Caladenia x cala) is a cross between the Green spider orchid (C. falcata) and a white spider orchid (C. longicauda).

Another surprise is finding the Pink enamel orchid (Elythranthera emarginata) which is found between Jurien Bay and Ravensthorpe, from October to December. This is a beautiful, bright orchid that grows in sandy, sandy-clay and clay soils in forests, woodlands and shrublands.

Hiding behind the spectacular foursome of Pink enamel orchids you can see some small white orchids. These little beauties are the White fairy orchid (Caladenia marginata), which are found between Jurien and Israelite Bays over the spring months.

Now for the difficult part, trying to ID the smaller spider orchids. The location leads me to believe that the majority of them are the Joseph’s spider orchid (Caladenia polychroma), which is a variably coloured orchid found growing between Boyup Brook and Fitzgerald River National Park during the months of September and October. Listed as growing in woodlands with grassy to herb-rich ground cover, on seasonally damp clay-loam soils.

However, some of the red spider orchids could be the Crimson spider orchid (Caladenia footeana) which is listed as growing between Cranbrook and Binnu, from July through to October.

I struggle with identifying some orchids so I will post the pictures with the expectation that someone will advise me what species they believe them to be. Thank you in advance.

Well, this was an amazing first location for the day. Possibly 10 species and 1 hybrid. Let’s see what the rest of the day produces.