Saturday, November 23, 2013

The hunt for Caleana major aka the Flying Duck Orchid

Searching for the Flying Duck Orchid

A couple of years ago I started becoming interested in orchids and whilst flicking through google images of orchids I came across several orchid flowers that looked like creatures. Amongst the most impressive of these was what is commonly called the Flying Duck Orchid (botanically known as Caleana major). I was blown away by how closely this orchid did actually resemble a flying duck but never looked into its origins. Then a few weeks ago I noticed the somebody had posted some pictures showing he had located some in Vaughan Springs which is about 50 minutes from my place. I contacted the photographer and he gave me some directions.

I set out towards Vaughan Springs and as the travel time started adding up I starting thinking that searching for such a small and elusive little orchid may be more difficult than I first thought. I turned off the freeway onto country roads that went through  Malmsbury. Then the sealed roads turned into dirt roads as I entered the bushland in Vaughan Springs. The directions I had been given were good but when I arrived at the intersection where I was told to stop I couldn't locate a walking track that was the next marker I had to locate. I knew I was roughly in the right area and there were about 3 hills around me. According to my information the orchid was on the peak of one of those hills. I started walking up one of them and shortly after I got to the peak I saw little patches of maroon plants. I had found them.

The Flying Duck Orchids were much smaller than I expected. The flower itself was only about 3 cm tall. The plant in its entirety was only roughly 20cm high. If I wasn't looking for it I may well have just walked right past it. The flower head didn't fail to impress. It was exactly as it appeared in the pictures. I took some snaps and set off to Daylesford to see the rest of the day out in the Wombat Hill Botanical gardens. Locating this plant was a hugely rewarding experience as I was half expecting to not even find it because of its elusive size. Even if I didn't locate it the sight of the other spring wildflowers would have made up for the disappointment of not finding this beautiful little plant.






Caleana major



Caleana major



Caleana major



Caleana major



Caleana major



4 comments:

  1. errmmm...a very interesting plant...can i share this on my Facebook....?? How do i do that...? Thanx zillions... warmest regards... norhaini

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  2. Hi Alex, I am a keen nature photographer, I learned about these little darlings earlier this year, when I sadly learned that I could not cultivate them, I became very interested in photographing them myself. I've been hunting for them off and on for the better part of the year, I was hoping you might be able to help me out?

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    1. Send an email to me (alex.krasmo@gmail.com) and I will tell you where I found them

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