In March 1802 when Matthew Flinders was circumnavigating Terra Australis on the Investigator his botanist Robert Brown recorded the first sighting of a South Australian orchid.
It was a Genoplesium nigricans found near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.
Two centuries later, new orchid species are still being discovered in the region, but many are under threat.
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Elliston retiree Shane Graves is obsessed with native terrestrial orchids and said he was happiest when lying face down in a pile of leaves searching through the lens of his digital SLR camera for undiscovered species in the bush.
He has an orchid named after him — the Elliston leek orchid, Prasophyllum gravesii, which he discovered near the local golf course.
“Not a pretty name, but it’s my orchid,” Mr Graves said.
His passion for native orchids grew through his love of photography.
Some of the native orchids Shane Graves enjoys photographing with his macro lens. (Supplied: Shane Graves)
“It’s that treasure hunt feeling that you get when you’re out here,” he said.
“They’re a bit like Pokémon, you’ve got to find them all.”
The plants first piqued his interest after his wife discovered an undocumented species near Elliston while on a photography club outing.
But after a mouse plague destroyed the roots of the two plants found and a decade of drought, no new orchids have grown and the site remains bare.
Shane Graves at Mount Wedge where he enjoys searching for native orchids. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Jodie Hamilton)
It is a familiar story for other orchid species, with habitat loss and damage from human activity impacting the native plants.
Native Orchid Society of South Australia website manager Rosalie Lawrence said SA had the smallest amount of native orchids of all the states and was the only one not to have epiphytic orchids, which grow on other plants without soil.
According to Ms Lawrence, SA is home to 162 endemic orchid species, with more than half under threat from development, weeds, herbicide and overgrazing.
Rosalie Lawrence photographing some spider orchids. (Supplied: Rosalie Lawrence)
She said orchids were bio-indicators of the health of the Australian bush because they had a low tolerance for change or disruption.
“This makes orchids a potential flagship for conservation work,” she said.
Mr Graves said despite some Australian orchids looking like the poorer cousins of the more colourful and larger tropical species, there was a good reason for their shy appearance.
A donkey orchid at Port Lincoln. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Jodie Hamilton)
“Our springtime ones can be [colourful], but the winter ones are trying to hide because kangaroos and other things will eat them,” he said.
“They try and blend in with the surroundings rather than stand out.”
A rabbit orchid, Leptoceras menziesii. (Supplied: Shane Graves)
Species survival
June Niejalke, author of Native Orchids of South Australia — A Field Guide, said most orchids in SA occurred in high rainfall areas, some grew in swamps, while other species survived in more arid zones.
“They grow right up to Wilpena Pound and the Gawler Ranges where the water collects and there’s a bit more chance of the orchids getting enough moisture to survive,” she said.
“You’ve got to give them credit for growing where they grow — they’ve adapted to many different habitats.”
June Niejalke in the field with Andrew Bird, who is studying the pollination ecology of the threatened spider orchid. (Supplied: June Niejalke)
Her love for orchids started when she was in her 50s and she would take her 80-year-old aunt into the bush to look for them.
“She’d have her walking stick in the front of my car … and she’d point it out the window and say ‘see there it is over there’, and I’d have to get out of the car and go and have a look,” Ms Niejalke said.
She said there were few new orchids being recognised and published because of the way the native species were classified through photographs.
The orchid expert said DNA technology would likely be used for species identification in the future to provide more accurate names and groups.
Plants need protection
In South Australia it is illegal to pick any part of a native orchid.
Mr Graves said he would contact his local council to investigate the protection of endemic orchids in the Elliston township.
Prasophyllum gravesii, the Elliston Leek Orchid, was discovered by Shane Graves. (Supplied: Shane Graves)
“Some species flower for … a period of two weeks, and if you don’t go and find them in that [time] you won’t see them again until next year,” he said.
“A lot of them have a very weak root system that can’t forage for enough food by [itself] so they attach themselves to fungi in the ground.
“If you just dug it up and try to plant in your garden it’s going to die anyway because that fungi that it needs doesn’t exist in your garden.”
Port Lincoln Orchid Club president Wayne Webber said he was concerned development was impacting local orchid populations.
He said a housing development and new desalinisation plant at Billy Lights Point, installed by SA Water, was approved despite the area’s rare native species.
A spokesperson for SA Water said no flowering orchid plants were taken out during the required vegetation removal.
“Some small pockets of other vegetation removed are areas where orchids can flower during season,” they said.
“Topsoil containing native orchid seeds has been retained to use for revegetation at the site next year.”
A sign along Port Lincoln’s Parnkalla Walking Trail depicting local native orchids. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Joie Hamilton)
Mr Webber said orchids were also at threat from bike riders who were widening tracks and damaging orchid habitats in other remnant bush areas bordering the Parnkalla Trail in Port Lincoln.
“Unfortunately it’s a really good spot for terrestrial orchids and you can see their bike tracks coming down here,” Mr Webber said.
The plant enthusiast said he was regularly approached by tourists wanting to explore local areas for orchids and wanted the community to better protect remaining habitats.
