Thelymitra pulcherrima - Northern Queen of Sheba Sun Orchid

Thelymitra pulcherrima is commonly known as the Northern Queen of Sheba orchid in Western Australia. The latin word pulcherrima means prettiest and is definitely an appropriate epitaph for this species. I imagine the common name reference to the legendary Queen of Sheba derives from both the unique and fascinating beauty of the flower and a commonality in that this stunning orchid, just like the mysterious Queen, worships the sun? Impermanance is woven deeply into the fabric of nature and life. It is integral to the process and is effectively what propels the magnificent dance onwards through the gates of time.

Flowers and humans exist just once. Physical form inevitably decays giving way to the intangible, a legacy of memories, tales and genes throwing forward to create the future. It is such thoughts that inspired the following saunter back through time and then around, full circle……….

It is rare for an individual’s identity to be preserved deep through the ravages of time and be known in story and image hundreds or even thousands of years later. Those that pull it off are a diverse mix of tyrants and enlightened ones, some a combination of both and most on the gamut in between. Always powerful in some way, widely known for heroic feats of strength, endurance, insight and intelligence, leaders who waged wars, consolidated empires, started revolution, commanded battlefields and won or sometimes lost, alongside those who used their perception, position and skills to create change, found religions, teach, care and help. Seers and oracles that were a force for good and made a difference to humanity, inspired by values of love, honor and kindness and then those who killed, raped and pillaged their way to the top driven by insecurity, ego, wealth and power. Kings, Emperors, Khans, Sultans and even rarer, but usually far more interesting, Queens! An intoxicating mix of feminine power, entangled with intelligence and often great beauty? Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Boadicea, Zenobia, Nefertiti and the mythical Queen of Sheba, a woman who has been woven into the teachings of the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Islam and Christianity and the legends of many ancient cultures. Today, approximately 3000 years later her name is at least familiar to most, so who was she?

Known as the Queen of the East, from the land of Saba, this mysterious woman must have been one truly fascinating human. In Islamic teachings her name is Bilquis while in Christianity she is known as Makeda. There is no agreement on the exact location of Saba but general consensus places it in Southern Arabia around the region of modern day Yemen. Spatially close to Africa, Saba was separated from the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia only by the very narrow but dangerous strait, Bab el-mandeb or Gate of Grief. It was an extremely strategic location, a gateway between Arabia and Africa with well established trade routes in slaves, gold, salt, ivory, precious stones and spices. Geographically positioned on either side of the ‘gate’, the lands of Saba and Ethiopia had ancient affiliation.

The Queen of Saba is recorded in the Qur'an, the Bible, the Torah and also appears in Ethiopian legend and Persian mythology. Divergence about the precise location of Saba aside, legends, teachings and stories from different faiths and cultures are broadly congruent in their description of events and the main players. The Queen of Saba revered the sun and other celestial objects, she was influential, independent, brave, intelligent, inquisitive, extremely wealthy, very beautiful, possibly had hairy legs, and definitely ruled a vast empire. At the same time in history, King Solomon, son of King David, ruled over ancient Israel and worshipped God. King Solomon was respected for his ruthless military victories, strategic brilliance, control of trade routes and a good public works program but, more interestingly he was revered as a wise man, a poet, a lover and a sage with divinely bestowed ability to communicate with animals. In the teachings of the Qur'an, it is a Hoopoe bird that tells King Solomon of Saba, a vast empire ruled by a mysterious, powerful and potentially beautiful woman who worshipped the sun.

Right time, right place? An entanglement of some kind seemed destined by fate, however, such encounters have to start somewhere and I imagine a certain level of curiosity must have kicked things off? In a vastly simplified version of events, with a bit of creative nuance, the King, being the old fashioned kind starts the interaction by writing the Queen a letter asking her nicely to convert her beliefs and worship God rather than the Sun. The Queen’s advisors are insulted by this thinly veiled demand and suggest going to war with Israel. The Queen being a more diplomatic type, totally ignores this advice and decides instead to send the King a convoy of expensive gifts, nice things from Africa, like gold and spice, sweet smelling incense, ivory and salt. The King who prioritizes love of God over wealth, already smells pretty good and has enough gold, spices and ivory of his own is insulted and rejects her gifts. In response to this awkward exchange, the Queen, in a strong, courageous move, takes action and decides to turn up in person to see if the King is really as wise and intelligent as his reputation implies. She travels across the desert on a long, hot and dusty journey with a large caravan of camels, many attendants and, because she is stubborn, and hasn’t given up on the whole gift idea, lots of nice things from Africa.

On arrival the Queen tests the King out with a barrage of complicated riddles and philosophical questions about life and the universe which he answers with depth, intelligence and wisdom. The Queen is actually quite impressed but the King is perhaps not quite as honorable as he seems. He had heard nasty rumors about hairy legs and before things went any further, wanted to see for himself so had the floor of his palace polished like glass. When the Queen entered the building she mistook the shiny floor for water and lifted her skirts so they didn’t get wet. The King saw a reflection of some very hairy legs and definitely wasn’t impressed but quickly whipped up a depilatory lotion and somehow managed to put this serious issue aside. In approximately 950 BC, the Queen concluded the King was alright, and, as often happens, they both stopped playing games and ended up in bed together. The Queen became pregnant from the encounter but didn’t like the scenery or the food so decided not to hang around. She casually packed up the camels and followed the sun back to her own palace in the land of Saba with a quick roadside stop on the way to give birth.

The baby boy was named Menelik and later became known as King and founder of Ethiopia. At some point, Menelik traveled to Israel to meet his father, King Soloman. Some religious stories describe Menelik’s visit to Israel ending in a strange, complicated twist of fate, whereby he returned to Ethiopia with the Arc of the Covenant, a chest containing the original stone tablets inscribed with the ten commandments by Moses as directed by God. The Arc is known and revered by all three Abrahamic faiths as a physical manifestation of God’s presence and as such is the most sacred and powerful relic. To touch it is to die. It is a pretty important piece of history, but life goes on, empires fall, events are lost to time and somehow, so is the Arc of the Covenant? These days no one really seems to know where it is, although some legends and teachings suggest it is safely guarded in depths of an Ethiopian church? Christianity is the national religion of Ethiopia, embedded deeply throughout the history, culture and landscape of the country and it is widely believed these ancient origins of Faith are directly traceable to King Menelik and his parents, King Solomon and the mysterious Queen of Sheba.

It is fascinating stuff. Truth shrouded by time yet enough fragments remain of elusive desert beauty intertwined with power, influence and mystery. Easy to see why, even now, the name ‘Queen of Sheba’ evokes a beguiling sense of enchantment and magic and easy to see why the stunning orchid, Thelymitra pulcherrima, carries her name!

Now for some more recent history.

I was incredibly lucky that Mum and Dad loved nature. They both had a deep interest in the world around them and took note of the seasons, the sky and the plants and animals that shared their environment. As a young child I lived on a farm near Boscabel, Boyup Brook in the South West, then a larger farm at Kulicup. When I was in primary school Dad bought Kalli pastoral station which was literally 250,000 acres of desert country in the Murchison and we moved North. It was remote. Cue was the nearest town, very tiny and 100 klms away. Impractical to drive that far to school so I became a Meekatharra School of the Air kid and Mum taught me, my sister and my brother via distance education. In the homestead we had a big old radio which was used to communicate with our teachers once a day, answer the station roll call, send telegrams and in an emergency callout for the Royal Flying Doctor aeroplane.

I began to grow up………

In year 7, I went to boarding school at St Hildas Anglican School for Girls in the big city of Perth. It was a good education. I learnt how to say ‘I don’t know’ in German and that life was easier when you put the regulation pale blue ribbon in your hair with a neat bow, polished your shoes and wore your hat parallel to the ground rather than at a jaunty angle. I also learnt a lot about life and social expectations and how to behave in different situations or at least fit in with a believable performance and suitable clothes, but I didn't enjoy the experience. It was too far from my family, my dog, the wild creatures and the red dirt country where I felt safe and connected. There were too many people, too many rules and it was difficult to find solitude and meaning. I couldn’t establish belonging and connection and the isolation hurt my heart. It was always wonderful to fly home in a little Cessna plane for school holidays but they weren't long enough and the gulf between the two worlds was confusing and destabilising. When I was a teenager Kalli was sold and my parents moved to Perth. I continued at St Hildas but stopped boarding and moved back in with my family to a suburban house in the city. The world had shifted again and I was now grappling with a different set of rules and expectations. I had become used to being independent and looking after myself and I didn't like many of the family constraints or being told what to do. It was a strange, unsettled time in my life.

Native Orchid Photography with Natural Light - An Obsession begins……

My parents maintained their passionate interest in nature even though they lived in the city. They had long been fascinated with native orchids so they joined the WA Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group (WANOSCG). It was an eclectic bunch of people with a common interest. As a family we went on many orchid field trips with WANOSCG or other family and friends, often camping for several days to look for and photograph orchids. Mum and Dad gave me a Pentax K1000 film camera and when I got my first job in 1990 I bought a Benbo tripod. I liked using natural light rather than flash and in the days of film and very limited finances I had to think very carefully about how each roll of film was used. It was then that I first realised I had a real interest in photography. I loved those trips. My parents slept in a 4WD rooftop tent Dad had made out of a tarp and us kids slept on the ground or in the car. It was so good to be back in the bush exploring, with a focus on finding and photographing orchids during the day and cooking on the campfire with Dad at night. A lot has happened in my life since then but woven through that tumultuous mix has been an increasing passion for nature photography and time spent alone in the wild. In the last few years my focus on bird photography has expanded to whales, waterfalls, tiny spiders, stars, flowers and insects. I feel safe in nature, a sense of belonging is tangible and it is something I am very very grateful to have.

Dad's Mark I car rooftop tent made from an old tarp! He thought he was a genius to come up with a rooftop tent and I remember us all laughing the first time Mum and Dad used it and were trying to figure out how to get up into it! The contraption was well used over many years. Eventually it was replaced with an improved version! The Mark II rooftop tent was more structurally sound and was possibly even made from a new tarp which was actually waterproof!

A Full Circle…..

With that backdrop it was thought provoking and quite poignant to find myself photographing the Northern Queen of Sheba orchid a few weeks back. Mum still has all of my early orchid photo albums complete with notes and dates. We checked and the last time I had seen and photographed this species was in 1989, the year I finished high school. It is interesting how life often comes full circle and looking back over my early photos it is good to see just how much my photography has improved. It is also good to realize just how strongly connection with nature is tangled through my being.

Northern Queen of Sheba in August 2024

This expedition started with my memory of a very special orchid and the desire to see it once again. It is a long drive to get to the location north of Perth so I left home very early in the darkness well before dawn. A thermos of hot tea, another one with hot chocolate, some muslie bars, cheese and cold homemade pizza to sustain me. These utterly beautiful flowers live in hard, dry, scratchy scrub. Places that superficially look desolate but on closer inspection are home to some of the highest botanical diversity hotspots in the world. Many Western Australian orchids are incredible examples of adaption to harsh environments, hot dry places with nutrient poor soil. The structure and form of orchid species in WA ranges from the truly weird and wonderful to some of the most beautiful and colorful flowers I have ever seen.

The Queen of Sheba falls into the later displaying a stunning kaleidoscope of colors that really have to be seen to be believed. Images do not do it justice. The delicate, translucent petals catch the light and reflect the pigments with stunning radiance. Thelymitra is a large diverse genus of species collectively known as Sun Orchids due to the tendency of their temperature sensitive flowers to open in response to warmth and light and close in response to cold and dark. These flowers truly worship the sun. It was a cold bleak week and I had studied the weather intently for days. The forecast was touch and go with heavy rain predicted in the afternoon but a slightly warmer temperature. I hoped that the window would be long enough and the temperature warm enough. I drove through darkness and drizzle. I drank my tea and enjoyed the changing landscape as city gave way to farmland and then large tracts of bush with trees silhouetted against the dawn sky. I stopped at a few spots on the way, ate cold pizza for breakfast and then decided it was best to focus on getting there and hopefully finding some plants so I could plan angles and compositions should the weather cooperate.

Ethical Considerations and Negative Impacts of Social Media

The Queen of Sheba is known for its beautiful colors, however, these are only visible when the flowers are open. When still in bud or closed due to the cold the plants are small and drab. Extremely difficult to see against the equally drab background vegetation. It is for this reason that extreme care must be taken when looking for these beauties. It is so easy to trample them or damage unseen plants while photographing another. The advent of social media has created an enormous and growing interest in nature photography which often becomes detrimental to the subjects being photographed. Over the past ten years I have seen many examples but, a few very recent ones that I personally know of include birds fleeing nests because photographers were too close, ancient Thrombolites at Lake Clifton trampled and damaged by unaware Aurora photographers, an Osprey hit by a drone, lizards dug from their burrows to give 4WD tour customers a photo opportunity, drones flying too low, too close and without permit over whales, swimmers touching and taking selfies around a dying Sperm Whale and orchids being trampled or far worse, dug up and removed from the wild for collection or sale. All of this creates a sad, horrible dilemma. I love photographing nature, it is where I find meaning, challenge, purpose, joy, love and connection but I never want that privilege and the resulting images to come at the expense of my subjects. I have always believed that we protect what we love and have often thought of my photography as one way I can contribute?

To portray the beauty I see with images and words and hope that it will stir a heart, evoke connection, speak the ancient rhythms of endurance and vulnerability, provoke our protection and mirror our human yearning to belong by strengthening the view that we are part of nature and not separate, above or in control of it. I have found myself questioning these notions of late with much of that thinking focused around the role of social media. In many ways nature photography has become quick and dirty. Respect, understanding and recognition of the beautiful, the precious, the interconnected and the fragile get lost in a meaningless and disconnected swirl of ego and anxiety, revolving around online presence, likes, following and drama! It is addictive, it rings hollow and it is extremely contagious.

A friend recently published a journal article on exactly this topic. The journal is titled ‘Liked to death? The social media race for nature photos can trash ecosystems – or trigger rapid extinction’. I felt quite uncomfortable reading it. If you are a nature photographer it is well worth reading and considering. It summarises the sad situation I describe above very succinctly and suggests practical ways to mitigate the impact. The strategies suggested are congruent with my sentiments regarding social media and also with the future direction I see for my photographic work. This post contains several of those strategies and I hope it will provoke thought, discussion and change.

Learn more -Liked to death? The social media race for nature photos can trash ecosystems – or trigger rapid extinction

If I am going to post images, publicly on social media I want them to hold context. Photos posted on facebook and instagram are often heavily cropped and accompanied by little if any explanation. I have always enjoyed telling stories so that part is not difficult but I intend to shift toward images and writing that highlight connections between a subject and its environment, the positioning in the web of life, evolutionary history, human history, place and time. To include and acknowledge impacts from the human world and other species, to describe the risks and vulnerabilities my subject faces. If a species is particularly rare or there is sudden, intense interest that may be damaging I will avoid posting. I do not want to add to the habitat damaging photographic frenzies I have seen occur.

In this case I have waited until all Queen of Sheba species have finished flowering before I post my images. I have also deliberately created images with a wider view. There is a sense of surround, of habitat and connection to a broader landscape. These beauties do not occur in isolation in either time or space and I want that accurately portrayed. I have refrained from publishing locations or my whereabouts for many years now. It started because photography often involves me being alone, camped in remote wilderness or hiking in the early hours or at night without phone reception and I consider it best for my safety. These days it extends to the safety of my subjects. Queen of Sheba habitat is fragile and plants are very easily trampled. Too much human traffic is damaging and because of that I will not visit this location again for many years.

I spend a lot of time researching, thinking, exploring, observing and slowly understanding subjects, behaviour, interaction and places. It is a long slow process which requires patience but always results in a deeper love and respect for that which I photograph. The sense of utter gratitude and privilege I feel from the unexpected, beautiful, tiny moments I witness during this process is what I love most. It is humbling. It puts me in my place, it creates connection and belonging and opens my mind to joy and awe. It is these sentiments that I want to convey in my work and prioritise in my life.

A Kaleidoscope of Color - Perfect Light - Overcast Diffuse and Bright

I arrived at the Queen of Sheba location around 9am. It was too cold and still to early for the flowers to be open so I decided to very carefully look for plants. In this case I walked along an existing track and with great excitement managed to spot one plant. It was closed up tightly and I wasn't sure if it was still in bud or just cold. I explored a little wider walking on a Kangaroo pad and even then looking very carefully at the ground before I put my foot down with each step. I found a second plant. This one was a triple header and I could see that the petals on the bottom flower were slightly loose, indicating that it would open if it got warm enough.

The Queen of Sheba Orchid is an excellent example of what is known from an evolutionary perpective as a Dodsonian mimic. In Dodsonian mimicry one species has evolved to appear like another in order to obtain a benefit that assists in reproduction and evolutionary survival. In this case, the Queen of Sheba Orchid mimics the more common and widespread Blue Tinsel Lily known scientifically as Calectasia cyanea. The Tinsel Lily produces a profusion of flowers and attracts pollinators using colour and a nectar reward. The flowers of the two different species are remarkably similar in shape and colour and thus pollinators of the Tinsel Lily are effectively tricked into pollinating the rarer and more sparsely distributed Queen of Sheba orchid flowers in the vicinity.

As I was scouting for more orchid plants, a Brown Falcon flew in from nowhere and landed on a grass tree spike a few meters away. This is unusual. They tend to keep a wider distance so I was surprised and then frustrated when I remembered I only had the one camera with a 200mm macro lens. I went to open my backpack and the bird flew in the opposite direction to the car and my other lens and landed on another grass tree spike. I decided to stalk slowly along the dirt road and again was able to get very close to this beautiful creature. I used the 200mm lens to take some images. It was bleak, overcast and wrong lens but a curious encounter. I decided to hike back to the car and get my spare camera and the bird lens hoping that, in the meantime, the temperature would warm up and the flowers open and maybe the Falcon would also stay in the area.

I took the opportunity to eat the rest of the pizza and drink some tea and headed back with a heavier pack. On a whim I had also grabbed my 14mm wide angle lens. No sign of the Falcon, but the petals of the first flower were now nearly fully open, with those of the second flower almost there. The colours were stunning and a large patch of clear sky promised sun for the next half an hour. I started photographing the flower. Laying on the Kangaroo pad with care not to squash surrounding vegetation.Trying different compositions and angles at eye level. Out of curiosity I decided to take some images with each of the lenses. The 200mm macro, the 14mm wide angle, and the 80-400mm wildlife zoom. It was interesting, a worthwhile experiment with the different attributes of each lens creating a shift in feel or perspective.

Once I had finished I decided to head over to the first flower that I had spotted from the track. Even though I knew exactly where it was I just couldn't find it. Weirdly, a third plant that I hadn't seen before with two perfect flowers was wide open in the middle of a small shrub. It was a surprise and it was absolutely perfect. The colours, the background, the shape and form and size of the flowers. The sky had clouded over with my favorite overcast but bright conditions and the translucent petals caught the light with one of the most beautiful displays I have ever seen. I was actually quite mesmerized, one of those moments of awe and joy that I mentioned before. So beautiful I did not think I could do it justice and I really haven't.

A close up of the flower captured with my 200mm macro lens. The detail is intricate and the yellow coloring in the centre so translucent it has blown the highlights in almost every image. I imagine the yellow is highly visible to pollinating insects it definitely stands out strongly against the otherwise drab vegetation.

The subtle quality of light, the colors and translucence were far more beautiful than the images portray. I did the same, using each lens for a different perspective, being so careful to not trample or squash surrounding vegetation. Very conscious of depth of field, two flowers which meant both needed to be in focus for the most of my compositions to work. Contorting myself, trying to find angles to get both flowers in the same plane. It was while I was crouching at eye level to this beauty that the mystery of the first flower was solved. It was right there, literally in plain sight also wide open just a few meters away.

The beautiful orchid had a Drosera plant tangled around its stem. It was catching the wind and moving around. In this image I was trying to capture a sense of the Drosera and also the reedy grasses to the right of the stem. Different textures to contrast with the smooth delicate petals of the Queen of Sheba orchid. The colors of the flowers are the main focus but the different textures in the surrounding vegetation brings another point of interest to the image. The dark background which was a deep shadow in as larger bush separates the flower and makes the colors pop.

After a few hours photographing the orchids and other flowers in the area I left. It was quite hard to tear myself away. On the drive home the predicted storm descended, the heavens opened with a a strong downpour. It was so heavy I pulled off the road and waited for it to finish. I couldn't see. After about half an hour the rain stopped and there was a patch of sunshine. Woven through the bush were thousands of Drosera plants, a tall creeping species, tangled through the low scrubby bush, catching the light with a billion sparkling dew drops. It was another moment of pure joy as a tried to capture the scene with the camera.

A very, very, very happy day. Extremely grateful to see and photograph the amazing Northern Queen of Sheba Orchid in almost perfect conditions. Inspired to delve into history and research the mysterious Queen with an enduring name who worshipped the sun 3000 years ago. Very happy with my images and even happier when I found some old photos of this species from 1988 taken with my film camera as a teenager, filed away in one of Mum's orchid photo albums. Life often circles back on itself and in that time so much has changed but so much hasn't!!