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See what grows on 1 Billion year old Granite, with Stypandra glauca, Borya scirpoidea, Prasophyllum cucculatum, and Andersonia caerulea.
Note : Since I had no idea that Prasophyllum even existed prior to seeing it this day, I was not aware of how remarkable it is for an orchid and so - while in awe of its beauty and its habit of growing out of the moss mat on a granite boulder at this locale, I proceeded to talk out of my ass. Prasophyllum is remarkable in that it is "non-resupinate". Most orchid flowers are resupinate, meaning that the flower itself is technically flipped 180° upside down, with the lower petal - the labellum - actually initially forming on the adaxial (closer to the shoot axis) side of the flower, yet the flower at maturity in most orchids has basically inverted 180° upside down. Not so with Prasophyllum. In Prasophyllum, that mahogany colored, boat-shaped "labellum" on the bottom of the flower is not actually the labellum but the dorsal sepal, which in most orchids is on the top of the flower (check out the Pterostylis video coming out in a few days). Other orchid genera that are "non-resupinate" (and thus morphologically distinct) are Cryptostylis and Caleana. Now you know (and my silly ass does too). Thanks to Peter Bernhardt at St Louis University for the clarification and the mild figurative spanking.
So I fucked that one right up. Again, I haven't yet taken the dive into this family as diversity is relatively low where I live. At some point, I'll do a proper crass and thorough treatment on this, the largest plant family in modern existence. The terrestrial Orchid diversity down in Australia (especially Southwest Australia) is mind-boggling. There is so much diversity, and they are all tied in with the massive mycorrhizal fungal network in the ground that also heavily associates with the Myrtle family.
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