Revealing the secret life of orchids

Orchids, with their exquisite flowers and unique nature, are under investigation at the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research (CPBR) to help conserve over 1,200 Australian species.

Around 80 per cent of Australia's orchids are only found in Australia. Some of these have extremely specialised adaptations not seen elsewhere in the orchid family like two species of native orchids that spend their entire life-cycle underground.

Drawing upon the CPBR collection of dried and alcohol preserved specimens, cards of dissected flowers and living orchids Dr Mark Clements and his team have identified 500 new orchid species in the past 15 years.

Accurately classifying orchids is critical to their conservation as a rare orchid may look very similar to a common one so its survival may be at risk if the differences between the two are not understood.

Orchids may also form special and essential relationships with fungi to germinate orchid seed, host plants to live upon and insects to pollinate flowers.

By unravelling these complicated relationships the CBPR researchers aim to reveal just why orchids have become so specialised and what the implications are if either the fungi, plant or insect are destroyed.

The CPBR is a collaboration between CSIRO Plant Industry and the Australian National Botanic Garden. The Australian National Herbarium is part of the CPBR.

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