Galeola - a Climbing Orchid

by Rosemary Opala

Regular members of bush-rambling groups are usually conditioned to the 'carryings-on' of fellow nature lovers, especially over a find that is only meaningful to a specialist. As a recent example, most of us were intrigued by two members who kept veering off the track in their efforts to relocate one specific tree among hundreds around North Stradbroke's Brown Lake. Their excitement at finding it was a bit puzzling to the 'botanically ignorant' among us, called to admire what seemed a very dead vine clinging to a tree trunk. This however, wasn't a vine but a most unusual orchid species; at the time 'in recess' but still a conversation piece. The only plant of its genus in Australia, the Small Climbing Orchid is a common plant of sheltered areas in the open forests of Queensland and NSW.

Once going under the botanical name Galeola cassythoides (Galeola for short), the orchid now is called Erythrorchis cassythoides - though its admirers still prefer the user friendly Galeola. It may grow up to 6m, its slender, leafless stem clinging to the supporting tree by narrow roots. In spring and early summer the orchid bears masses of honey coloured, delightfully perfumed blooms; followed by narrow, pendulous pods.

The most interesting feature of this orchid is that it is a saprophyte: that is, dependent on decaying plant material in which it has a symbiotic relationship with a particular fungus. This means the species cannot be grown in cultivation. Interestingly one species was reportedly found climbing an old orange tree on a hillside farm.

Another Australian species with a similar life style is the Great Climbing Orchid, found in the rainforests of north east Queensland to central N.S.W. At up to 20m in height, Pseudovanilla foliata is believed to be the world's tallest orchid. Described, in its flowering season, as carrying thousands of fragrant flowers at a time, a plant that probably few of us may have seen. Again, a saprophyte and not amenable to cultivation.