Rare form of Hexalectris spicata

While out photographing the previous Hexalectris spicata flowers, my daughters and I noticed one spike in the area that was decidedly paler than the other emerging spikes (which were already turning a dusky red). It was several weeks away from flower, so we flagged it for a colleague to observe when he was in the area...being closer, he was able to keep tabs on the flowers as they grew, so we were able to return when they had finally opened. This is a nearly alba form of Hexalectris spicata, with only the faintest color on the tepals and lip. A true albino form, fma. wilderi, would have no color at all, while fma. albolabia would have no coloration on the lip of an otherwise normally colored flower. This form has no formal description as of yet, although something very similar is pictured in Paul Martin Brown's Wild Orchids of Florida in the section on this species.




You can read more about this species on my website (and view the typical color form) at:

>> The Hexalectris spicata profile page at Florida Native Orchids <<

Canon Digital Rebel XTi, f22, ISO100, 1/200s. Flash through a diffuser. Composite of two photographs, one of the upper flower and one of the lower flower.

Unfortunately, most of the spike had wilted due to what appeared to be the nips of a hungry insectoid creature (although it could've been a fungal or bacterial rot), so these were the only good flowers remaining.

---Prem

Rare and beautiful - Crested Coralroot (Hexalectris spicata)

While vouchered specimens of this species have been found in many counties in the state of Florida, this species is rarely seen, as it blends in quite well with the surrounding forest, making it difficult to see until you are quite close. Then, the true beauty of these flowers is revealed. Each is a little over an inch wide and scented pleasingly of baby powder. I would consider this perhaps the second- or third-most attractive terrestrial orchid in the state of Florida (first is Cleistes bifaria, the Rosebud Orchid, which holds a special place in my heart as one of my first-observed native orchids).

The plants themselves bear no leaves, instead living in a mycotrophic relationship with fungi hosted (and consumed) in the coral-like roots. These fungi, in turn, send out mycelia throughout the soil and infect the roots of other plants, forming a network of nutrients funneled from one plant to another in a complex "nutrient highway" beneath the forest floor. While many orchids after the earliest seedling stage will bear leaves and begin to perform some of their own nutrient manufacture through photosynthesis, they never lose their fungal relationship entirely. The coralroots never grow beyond this earliest relationship, relying their entire lives on nutrients gathered from their fungi. Because of this delicate relationship, coralroots will die in short order if transplanted to another site.



You can read more about this species on my website at:

>> The Hexalectris spicata profile page at Florida Native Orchids <<

Enjoy!
---Prem