#2128 - Dipodium sp. - Hyacinth Orchid
Probably D. roseum. I'd thought this one was a Bloodroot ( Haemodorum sp. ) but I was very wrong. It is, in fact, a remarkably large specimen of a species of leafless orchid that parasitises fungi. If I'd been back in the next couple of weeks, it would have looked like this -
Or much spottier, if it was one of the other species. Photo by Murray Dawson, via Wikipedia.
Many of the species from Eastern Australia are parasitic and leafless, which makes them extremely difficult to grow in cultivation, but some aren't. Fungi aren't the only things the orchids rip off - it's suspected they're pollinated by small bees and wasps that mistake the plant for one that actually provides nectar.
They're found throughout Australia and well up into SE Asia, and D. roseum grows as far south as Tasmania.
