Volunteers dig through pots to save rare Victorian orchid
About an hour outside Melbourne, dozens of volunteers gather each cold morning in a small green shed. They tip pot plants onto a table and sift through the dirt for tubers, working to save one of Australia's rarest wild orchids. The plant depends on a picky pollinator and a specific fungus just to survive. "That's next year's tuber," volunteer Alex McLachlan says, pulling a thick, white root from the soil to show the others. By afternoon the shed smells musky as the purple flowers try to lure their pollinator in.
The orchid's survival now rests on volunteers who drive from across Australia to give it a chance.
Source: Army of volunteers races to save one of Australia's rarest orchids (abc.net.au). Spotted via Good News Network.
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