Red Beaks Unfurling
We have a number of large colonies of red beak orchids (Pyrorchis nigricans) in the forest and the leaves are just unfurling now. I had hoped that we would see some flowers after we did our controlled burn a couple of years ago, but we burnt at the wrong time for these fussy fire orchids. They only flower after a hot summer fire, so I have resigned myself to never seeing them on the property, as I don’t want to experience a summer fire. We have plenty of other amazing species to look at throughout the year so their contribution will be as bush tucker. We will dig up some of the tubers in October/November and see what they taste like. They can be eaten raw or roasted, so they could become a regular item on the menu.
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