More on C pumila (AOS Newsletter)

[K Barrett]

We recently had an interesting discussion online about the rediscovery of Caladenia pumila. Since its in this month's AOS email newsletter I thought I'd add a few interesting tidbits here.

I heard via email from Ron and Cathy (no last name given) who took pictures of C. pumila two years ago before it was officially recognized. They passed along their impression that C. pumila had been existing all along, just that its such a small plant with leaves similar to other terrestrial orchids living in the area that it was overlooked until it finally bloomed. They have a web site with their photos as well as other Austrailan orchids here: http://www.banjorah.com/
It's important to recognize that the recognized habitat for C pumila has been lost and this range is a couple of km away from that site.

I also heard from Wendy Probert who mentioned that smoke from the recent fires in Victoria may have had a hand in getting these flowers to finally bloom. We here in California are familiar with plants that have adapted to a fire habitat, needing fire to allow seeds to sprout etc. Australian terrestrials need either smoke, fire or the ethylene gas that is released with the smoke to have seeds sprout. Andrew Gibbon passed along a great web page detailing the relationship. http://asgap.org.au/seed.html

In addition he says hobbyists can place terrestrial tubers in a bag with a banana skin (for the ethylene) before planting up.

In addition don't forget to look at Tony Watkinson's web page on another western Australian orchid that is getting rare these day due to habitat encroachment: http://members.iinet.net.au/~emntee/..._of_the_SW.htm
and further:
http://environment.gov.au/biodiversi...rum/index.htmlhttp://environment.gov.au/biodiversi...rum/index.html