Stuart Rae

A local speciality

Black Mountain Leopard Orchid Diuris nigromontana 

The orchid flowering season is now well on the way with several local species in bloom. There are over sixty varieties in the dry schlerophyl forest on Black Mountain, in the centre of Canberra, and this one is special. For it grows nowhere else in the world but in the area around Black Mountain. It stands about twenty centimetres tall, growing between tufts of grass and shrubs, and I have seen several little colonies in the past few days. The rich yolky yellow is quite obvious among the dull grey grass stems.