My topic was "A Year in the Bog with Florida's Orchids", covering a year's worth of terrestrial orchids resident in acid bogs and wetlands in the state of Florida.
I have posted a profile of Vanilla mexicana (common name: Fuchs' Vanilla, Mexican Vanilla) to the Florida Native and Naturalized Orchids page, giving some detailed information on this species, its historical range, photos, classification, synonymy and other data. A naturalist/photographer friend of mine, Chris Evans, had relocated a seemingly extirpated population of these extremely rare plants in a natural area in southeastern Florida. I joined him the next weekend to explore the nearby swamp, armed with some additional information on specific plant locations. In the process, we found a very robust, large plant sporting many seed pods, a bud and an open flower.
Photographing the flower was particularly challenging, as it was roughly 12 feet up the tree, thankfully in some very strong, slightly-diffused sunlight, which allowed a fast shutter speed and good depth of field. My two sons who had accompanied me helped stabilize the fully extended tripod with my camera mounted on top, angling downward. Using the flip-out screen on my Canon T3i, I was able to judge approximately where the camera was pointing in live preview mode. I then used my infrared remote trigger to fire off shot after shot. Many shots were blurry or misframed, but a few came out in decent shape. Combining two shots with slightly different focal points, I was able to get the majority of the highly 3-dimensional flower in focus.
Plant climbing up a Sabal Palm (Sabal palmetto) tree:
Flower:
Please follow the link below to see the full on-line profile for this species:
Neither the Greenfly Orchid (Epidendrum magnoliae) nor the Water Spider Orchid (Habenaria repens) is a particularly rare plant. In fact, both are quite common in the state of Florida.
Epidendrum magnoliae can be found in most of the state, only excluded from the southern third of the peninsula. You need only scan the branches of oak trees in hammock, swamp, and riverine areas in its range and you are almost sure to find some plants growing. Its range is surprisingly northerly for a tropical epiphytic orchid, being found as far north as coastal North Carolina. Plants in the north tend to bloom in June with another flush of flowers in late fall, while southern plants seem to favor August with a potential second flush of flowers in mid-winter. The following video shows plants in flower in a natural area in southwestern Seminole County, Florida.
While hiking to some of the spots where we knew some particularly accessible Epidendrum magnoliae to grow, we discovered a previously unknown colony of Water Spider Orchids (Habenaria repens) growing in a small pond. H. repens is a truly inconspicuous orchid, blending quite well with other pond vegetation. Even in full flower, the green flowers are quite inconspicuous, relying on night-produced perfume rather than sight to attract their pollinators. The following video shows some of the plants we discovered that day:
I am a software engineer based in the metro Orlando area. On weekends, you will often find me in the field with my family photographing Florida's native orchids. I also give lectures on these orchids at many orchid, garden, and native plant societies. I am also an avid fossil hunter.
NSS Grotto Meetings
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I have attended quite a number of National Speleological Society (NSS)
grotto meetings over my half-century of caving. Most of them were with the
Florida ...
Welcome Center
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The Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center (WC) ... Is located about 20 miles
west of Oasis. Can you see the tractor trailer? As seen looking East down
the Tamia...
Greening Up In The Garden
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A lot of these photos are going to be from March and early April. I’m
working on taking photos now for another post later in the month. This
spring feels l...
Purplish-Blue Delights Waving in the Breeze
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During a recent six-mile hike in Julington-Durbin-Preserve in S.E.
Jacksonville, I stopped suddenly, next to a prescribed burn area, noticing
over 100 thi...
SUWANNEE SPRING ... with Fangorn
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Let's go for a Spring walkabout at Suwannee River State Park. Do it now
while the new foliage has that Spring glow to it, the humidity is down, and
the mo...
It's all about process
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*Still a work in progress...*
Some time ago, I sketched with a group at the Naples Preserve. My
sketchbook page was not quite complete so I postponed sc...
Corkwood - Stillingia aquatica
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Corkwood (*Stillingia aquatica*) is a semi-woody shrub found nearly
statewide in Florida in shallow-water marshes and the edges of freshwater
swamps. It...
Flower Friday: Butterfly orchid
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*Butterfly orchid (Encyclia tampensis) *
*Photo by Mary Keim* *Click on terms for botanical definitions. *
Butterfly orchid is a slow-growing, epiphytic pe...
They Say It's Winter
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I'm certain all my Florida gardening friends remember that awful winter of
2010 when we experienced an out-of-the-ordinary winter. If you don't
remember, ...
Asteridea asteroides - Star-like Asteridea
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Click image to enlarge
*Asteridea asteroides - Star-like Asteridea*
This exotic looking plant that you might think was a garden escapee, is in
fact a...
The End of Another Season
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Our 2016 native orchid season was considerably abbreviated by a trip to
Australia, so we saw only a limited number of the species we usually visit
and di...
Of Primulas (and a Violet)
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The past few days of warmth and sun has really kick-started spring on Park
Downs. The annual blue carpet of Hairy Violet (*Viola hirta*) has returned
and i...
Crested caracara seen on PI!
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Today I was lucky enough to watch a crested caracara eating some dead fish
along the side of an embankment. This species is one of my favorites!
Unfortunat...
Should I stay or should I go?
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I haven’t been posting to this site for the past year even though I do have
more flowers to add. There aren’t ever any comments to any of the posts, so
I a...
Betting Odds On World Cup Soccer 2014
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World Cup Odds
If you really like soccer, also know as "futbol", get all set to get
pleasure from loads of action on Tv for the epic FIFA World Cup 2010
v...
My blog featured in Orchids made easy
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Ryan and Laura Levesque, authors of *Orchids Made Easy* - a book and
website all about how to care for orchids, invited me for an interview for
their web p...
Pholidota chinensis in bloom last month
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I can't believe I haven't posted since November! Definitely overdue :) One
of my newer orchis is a Pholidota chinensis, which I acquired February 2010
@ th...
Brassavola cucullata - ghost-like flower.
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Brassavola cucullata is a species that hails from Mexico and much of
Central America. Like other flowers in the genus, this species has
intensely night-fr...
The Florida National Scenic Trail
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Many people are probably unaware that there is a 1,400 mile trail that
traverses the length and breadth of the Sunshine State and was the
brainchild of a ...