Flowers

Upon checking a stoat line in the weekend I was overcome with many things, firstly hayfever, secondly revulsion (at how bad hedgehogs really can smell) and thirdly amazement at this amazing flowering season we are having. I could've posted a photo of a more stunning flower, like the big purple-white flowers of the muttonbird scrub, the dodgy purple of the poro poro or the lusciously fat flax flowers, but I decided to go with the flower that brought me the most joy. I think this is an 'onion orchid' Microtis unifolia. In the midst of a ferocious sneezing frenzy, I sat down on the grass to recover (and find something other than a woolen jersey to blow my nose on) and found myself surrounded by these special little brown stalks. The flowers haven't yet opened but when they do they'll be small and whitey-greenish. Aparently these orchids are common, but for some reason they just seem special, maybe due to their disappearence in winter or their oxymoronic name, whatever it is, I'm sold, and as soon as I get some decent hayfever drugs I'll get out there for another visit.