The large and splendid Christmas Orchid (Calanthe triplicata) is in flower at the moment, with flower spikes up to 1.5m tall covered in beautiful white blooms.
Lots of visitors are admiring the specimens at Wollongong Botanic Garden, where they are growing right by a path and easy to see. This is definitely a plant not to miss.
As well as having very tall and striking flowers, Christmas Orchids also have leaves that are quite distinctive, being long, broad and somewhat pleated in appearance; they are often quite numerous on older plants, which can form big clumps. They're not really like the leaves of any other local orchid (those that have leaves, of course; the beautiful Hyacinth Orchids (Dipodium sp.), which are also flowering at the moment, don't have any leaves at all).
This orchid grows naturally in the understorey of rainforest and in wet sclerophyll forests, such as the eucalypt forests of the Illawarra escarpment. It is now extremely rare in natural areas of the Illawarra region, most likely due to the extensive clearing undertaken here in the early years of European settlement.
Local botanists and other plant enthusiasts have been combing the area for years, looking for it in every reach and pocket of suitable vegetation, but fearing that it had become locally extinct. That is, until just the last couple of years, when there were two separate sightings, at opposite ends of the region.
It is still common further north, and also occurs on Lord Howe Island and in Queensland, as well as in many other countries. In fact, one of its common names is the Common Christmas Orchid; perhaps it will one day become common again in Illawarra. It could certainly take off as a garden plant, particularly for the lucky people who have shady rainforest-style gardens and would like something to liven up the understorey. Unfortunately, they're not easily available in nurseries, at least not around here.
And in case you're wondering if this is another species that is flowering unusually early, the answer is 'not really'.
There are records of Christmas Orchid flowering as early as October and as late as January, depending on conditions and location. I've photographed the ones in the Botanic Garden in late November in previous years.
