Coastal Fringe Native orchids
This article was written in 2020 and is part of our Wayne Harris Article Series. Wayne was an avid orchid-enthusiast, photographer, author of several orchid publications and life-member of the Nambour Orchid Society. After a short illness, Wayne sadly passed away in 2020.
Now that current restrictions are easing it’s time for more exercise! Why not take a walk in our coastal vegetation and have a look for some of our native orchids. They are out there and are not difficult to locate. Most of the national parks on the coast have many readily accessible walking tracks and some are wheelchair friendly. No excuses! Keep your eyes peeled! For those with a little more energy try a walk up Mt. Coolum or Emu Mountain. The orchids here grow in the rocky soils near the top of the ‘peaks’.
The best time to explore is late winter through to spring.
Wallam
Much of the vegetation of the coastal lowlands including the wet and dry heaths and the open eucalypt woodlands is known as Wallum. A typical Wallum heathland is depicted above.. Note the wide diversity of plants.
Wallum, or wallum country, is an Australian eco-system of coastal south-east Queensland, extending into north-eastern New South Wales. It is characterised by flora-rich shrubland and heathland on deep, nutrient-poor, acidic, sandy soils, and regular wildfire. Seasonal changes in the water table due to rainfall may create swamps. The name is derived from the Kabi word for the wallum banksia (Banksia aemula).
The environment is found close to the sea, behind the second row of dunes. These areas are poorly drained sandy flats interspersed with low sandy ridges. The flats may be rich in decaying organic matter (hummus) however the soil is generally low in minerals particularly nitrates and phosphates and generally acidic, with regular wildfire events.
The plants of the heath land are consistently stunted with some higher ridges supporting eucalypts and the lower swampy areas supporting tea trees.
The area covered by this term includes a wide variety of ecosystems from the sea coast through to montane ridges and eucalypt woodland and patches of rainforest.
Each of these ecologies supports its particular suite of native orchids but the greatest diversity is found in the heath communities. Many of the images presented here are of plants living in these ecosystems.
Other species that you may encounter include: terrestrials; Acianthus fornicatus, Caladenia catenata, Calanthe triplicata, Dipodium hamiltonianum, Orthoceras strictum,Calochilus campestris, Corybas barbarae, C, fimbriatus, C. undulatus, Praso- phyllum australe, Pterostylis baptistii, Microtis unifolia, Geodorum pictum, Phaius tankervilliae, Thelymitra pauciflora, and the epiphytes; Cymbidium madidum, C. suave, Dendrobium aemulum, D. kingianum, D. speciosum, D. gracilicaule, D. linguiforme, and Erythrorchis cassythoides.
Further reading
Harrold, A. 1994 Wildflowers of the Noosa-Cooloola area. NoosaParks Association I224 pp. Haslam, S. 2004 Noosa’s Native Plants. Noosa Integrated Catch