Grange features in this weeks local messenger with an article on a tiny rare orchid which has been surviving in the vast fairways at The Grange.
Read the article below published today in The Weekly Times Messenger
Just off the vast fairways of The Grange Golf Club a tiny rare orchid has been surviving the cut to play another day.
A small patch of the Sandhill Greenhood Orchid, a nationally threatened species, has doubled in size during the past 12 months according to a new survey.
The survey showed 1200 of the orchids – a flower which is listed as critically endangered in the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges region – at the course. The collection is the orchids’ only known location in the metropolitan area, with the only other known populations in the state near Wellington and Tailem Bend.
The Grange Golf Club Course Superintendent Richard James said the Club ensured the orchids, which are between the 13th and 14th hole on the East Course, were protected.
“We are very proud of the vegetation and we do what we can to help make sure that it is protected,” Mr James said.
The recovery of the orchids is the result of a partnership between Natural Resources Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges, the Threatened Plant Action Group, and the Native Orchid Society of South Australia in co-operation with the golf club.
The golf course provides ideal conditions for the plant with red sandy soils and cover of pine trees.
SA has more than 260 species of orchid.