Add Another One To The List

One of my "passions" is to find orchids growing in the wild instead of in someone's pampered collection.  I have a list in my head of the plants that I have seen, in flower, in their natural habitat.  I just added another one to that list.  A friend told me where he had seen these plants growing about ten years ago and hoped that they would not have become part of a 'development' since then.  The plant is the "Bamboo Orchid", or Arundina graminifolia for the more scientifically minded.  Thankfully the area it is growing is too steep, and the soil is very unstable which means that it is unlikely to have a resort built on it (not this week anyway).

The boxes show where the plant was groing, so you can see the type of habitat involved.

Interestingly, in the same place there was a species of "Pitcher Plant" (Nepenthes sp.) growing everywhere as well.

These are carnivourous plants that are most commonly thought of as jungle plants.  This species was growing all through the area and in some places was growing on rock faces where it was totally exposed to all the sun, and to the full rigours of the dry season.

Getting into this area was a test for my (non-existent) off road driving capabilities.  It was all access roads for a line of electricity supply towers.  Being wet season and with the unstable soil, in some places the water washes in the road were bigger than the road istelf.  There were a few moments when I thought I would be calling a tow truck, but I made it in the end.  I discovered some locals on the way.  I considered getting a closer shot but they made it very clear that they were not interested in sharing there area with anything smaller than they were.  I stayed in the truck!