The Cobra Greenhood

I just had to save my photos of the Cobra Greenhood, Diplodium grandiflorum, for a separate post - partially because the previous post was just getting a bit long, but mainly because they are just so...magnificent! Handsome. Beautiful. Striking.
Here is a few shots of the whole flowering plant:

Diplodium grandiflorum - tall plant

Diplodium grandiflorum - short plant

Diplodium grandiflorum - second plant, wideangle view

You can see the first one is significantly taller than the second. I didn't take any photos with a scale, but some plants were taller than my knee. The stem is covered in leaves, fairly evenly spaced up the stem. As in nearly all Diplodium species, the flowering stem stands separate from the non-flowering plants which instead form rosettes on the ground. 

Next, a closer shot of the flower:

Diplodium grandiflorum - side on

You can see the labellum protruding within the hood in this photo - the thin orange-ish 'thing' (for want of a better word) sticking up from the green and white cup-like 'thing' (well, the flower). 

Here is a front-on shot:

Diplodium grandiflorum - front on

Here you can see the diagnostic brown, flared edges to the hood, which gives it the common name of Cobra Greenhood. Certainly quite distinctive. Interestingly, this photo was taken in low light without flash and if you look closely you can see some very red elements in the brown part of the hood. I wonder why? I checked on the flower itself and certainly couldn't see any such colouration with my own eyes. Must be an artifact of the colour range of the sensor (?). This wasn't present in similar photos WITH flash. 

Diplodium grandiflorum - rear

This photo, taken from the rear, was my favourite from my session with these guys - I love the way it highlights the flared nature of the brown edges of the hood, and the divergent 'free points' which form a V with the flower as the base. 

They are truly remarkable orchids, and a reminder of why I called this blog 'The Greenhood'...