Large Tongue-orchid

I’m not sure if the Large Tongue-orchid flowers each season. I have to admit I only come across this plant every year or so but I probably just miss seeing them despite their size and colour. I found this one and one other at the Gurdies NCR near Grantville after a heads up from an orchid pollinator hunter – more later.

 

Large Tongue-orchids are widespread through south-east Australia. The distribution map on the FloraVic site has them mostly in the southern regions of our state. They seem to be tolerant of a range of habitats from well-drained sandy soil to heathy woodland and swamps.

 

At the Gurdies NCR I found them at the site of an old degraded gravel-scrape area.

Many plants use mimicry to attract another organism for the purpose of pollination. The orchid family are good at this. They either emit a chemical that copies the pheromone of a particular female insect or they even appear visually similar to a female insect or both (as in the case of the Large Tongue-orchid).

The Large Tongue-orchid uses deception to attract male wasps to its flower. The wasp tries to mate with the flower – pseudocopulation – and in so doing it incidentally collects pollen on its body which is transferred to the next flower it visits, LINK.