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As has been stated before, Florida is at an intersection of the ranges of temperate species from the north and tropical species from the south. One such southern species, Cranichis muscosa, grows primarily in the Caribbean, West Indies, Central America, and northern South America. While some southern species, such as Encyclia cochleata, end up establishing themselves fairly well in the southern swamps, this orchid has never been common. It was first reported in 1903 in a collection most likely made in the Fakahatchee swamp. It had not been seen in Florida again for nearly a century. In 1991, a plant was reported and again in 2000, another suspect plant was reported in Miami-Dade County. This plant was subsequently stolen.
In 2004, a new small population was discovered somewhere in the Fakahatchee swamp area by Karen Relish and Mike Owen. This population is a closely guarded secret, so don't expect to see these plants in person anytime soon.
Interestingly enough, cultivated plants of this species from elsewhere in the Americas are very aggressive growers in the greenhouses of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, seeding themselves regularly into pots where they are not welcome. One of these plants was gifted to Paul Martin Brown, and it is a photograph of one of eleven inflorescences on his plant which I present below.
The plants consist of a basal rosette of glossy leaves with strong veination. The color is a lovely medium bluish-green.
The flowers are tiny...being only about 5 mm across, so this requires a good macro lens, excellent lighting, and little breeze to obtain a good photograph. My Sigma 105mm macro with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi did an adequate job of capturing these tiny jewels.
The upper floral part with the green speckles is the lip. The two petals act as a small winged platform below and to the sides of the column. The lateral sepals fold downward while the dorsal sepal folds back against the ovary. The column is a curious shape, with two pairs of winglike projections on either side and a highly curious tooth which projects downward and in front of the dorsal sepal. This orchid is, again, a wonder of miniaturization, with this complex structure being achieved with only a few thousands of cells, as opposed to the millions-plus that would make up a larger orchid flower, such as a larger-flowered Cattleya.
Many thanks to Paul Martin Brown for allowing me to photograph his cultivated plant.
Enjoy!
---Prem
Another sure sign of early spring is the emergence of the Southern Twayblade (Listera australis). I put a question mark in the title, as the common name (and the specific name australis - meaning 'southern') imply that this is an orchid only of the south. In fact, its range extends from near Sarasota, Florida to the north well into southern Canada, so it could just as easily be viewed as a northern species as a southern one. In my native haunts of yesteryear in Tallahassee, Florida, these plants would typically emerge in mid-February and persist through mid-March, depending on the population -- some sites would tend to bloom earlier than others. One time, I encountered a very large plant blooming in mid-June in an area to the northwest of Tallahassee, although this is very atypical. In central Florida, the plants are right now in full bloom, with a few stragglers still showing buds.It is hard to appreciate how small these plants are until you see them in person. In fact, if you do see one, don't look away before you mark the spot, as it will likely take you several minutes to relocate the plant. In fact, this very thing happened to me the first time I found one as a teenager in the woods behind my house. The plant itself consists of a small stem, often tinged with purple, that supports two teardrop-shaped leaves. The leaves are a bit unusual for a monocot, as they almost seem to support a small network of veins rather than having strictly parallel veins. Typical leaf size is about 1 inch long by 1/2 inch wide, although especially large plants can have larger, wider, almost-round leaves about 1.5 inches in diameter. I have seen around 35 flowers on these more robust plants, where the typical flower count is around 8 or 9 per stem. The flowers themselves are about 1cm long and 2-3mm wide...extremely small and difficult to appreciate without the benefit of close up photography. Seedlings consist of just a pair of leaves without the flowering stem.Below is a photo of a typical plant.
The flower structure, although miniaturized to the point that only a few hundred cells make up the petals, are still a typical orchid flower structure. Arranged around the central column is the usual cadre of three sepals, two petals and a disproportionately large lip. The lip curls around the column and then extends downward a ways before forking into two lobes. From a distance, these flowers look like pinheads with small threads glued onto them. Below is a closeup of just the flower.
Below are a few more shots taken during this same field trip.
Enjoy!---Prem
This past weekend, a colleague and I were visiting an area in central-west Florida that is host to one of Florida's rarest endemic orchid species, only found within our state as far as anyone knows - Triphora craigheadii. It is likely that it grows elsewhere in tropical America, but its small size and secretive habit makes it very difficult to see. This same site hosts a number of plants of Copper Ladies Tresses (Mesadenus lucayanus), which were in bud, but not yet in flower, their slender coppery spikes blending in quite well with the fallen leaves. As we were poring over the site, looking to see if any T. craigheadii remained aboveground, we spotted some other coppery-colored spikes in full bloom. These, however, belonged to a completely different species, Corallorhiza wisteriana, also known as Wister's Coralroot or the Spring Coralroot. This plant is most notable in that it lives its entire life without ever growing a single leaf, relying instead on a special relationship to survive.
Most monotocotyledonous plants, such as corn and wheat, include a healthy dose of energy-rich starches in the seeds, which is what makes them useful to humans as a food source. As you may or may not be aware, orchid seeds are small and dust-like, containing only an embryo wrapped in a thin sheath without any nutrients added to the packet to get the seedling started on its new life. These seeds, in order to germinate, must fall in an area where specific fungi are growing...these fungi then begin to infect the seedling, and in the process begin to funnel nutrients through their mycelia into the plantlet. Thus, the orchid seedling begins its life in complete dependence upon the fungus. As the seedling grows, it typically develops its own leaves and begins the process of photosynthesis to produce some or most of its own nutrients. Its roots, however, will continue to host a population of these fungi, consuming bits of fungus at times, in a relationship termed myco-heterotrophy.
Coralroots are part of a unique group of orchids termed saprophytes, which continue to rely almost entirely on this fungal relationship for the necessary nutrients to live and grow. This particular species grows rather large underground root structures to host its fungi, which look a bit like a branching marine coral, hence the common name. The only clorophyll these plants ever produce is in very small quantities in the above-ground flowering stems, which come up briefly in the spring, to set seed and die back before a month has passed.
Their small flowers have a definite reptilian quality, looking like a number of tiny Cottonmouth snakes striking out at a hapless passerby. They are suffused typically with small purple polka-dots on all the floral parts, which looks particularly striking on the white lip. Here is a photo of one of the plants we saw that day. As we understand it, this was the first time this species has been observed growing at this particular site, probably because the main star here, T. craigheadii, blooms in June-July, and although Mesadenus do bloom here at this time, there is a site nearby where they are much more abundant...hence, I don't think anyone was watching this site at this time of year.
Enjoy!
---Prem
I leave you this year with a photo of my favorite wild orchid...Cleistes bifaria. While it is the second wild orchid I ever saw in the wild, it has a very fond memory for me...when I was a teenager in Tallahassee, FL, we discovered a colony of these growing within walking distance of our house. Over the next 20 years, I watched this colony every year at the end of April, greeting their vanilla-scented flowers growing out from between the wiregrasses and fetterbushes where these made their home. You can read even more about this orchid on my website.
---Prem
On a recent hike in a wilderness area on the north side of Orlando in Seminole County, we discovered a number of Habenaria floribunda (which used to be called Habenaria odontopetala and are listed as such in Luer) orchids in all stages of life, from small seedlings to mature plants in full bloom. One plant in particular stood out from all the rest. While most were located in reasonably moist areas under mostly hardwood trees, this plant was in a semi-dry area underneath a cluster of pine trees. It also happens to be the tallest plant of this species that I have seen to date, standing around 30 inches tall with fifty flowers in all stages of development from near-ripened seed pods towards the bottom all the way to a single remaining bud at the top of the plant.
Here is a closeup of the flowers:
They look to me like little angry green goblins. Add a few spider webs and you have a truly "spooky" image, albeit a little late for Halloween. They are most likely moth pollinated, as they become intensely fragrant at night (in fact, I had discovered another population of these orchids in another Seminole County park toward evening time by just the scent alone). As to whether the scent is pleasant, it depends on who you ask. Paul Martin Brown, author of Wild Orchids of Florida, states that they have a distinctly unpleasant odor, which is in agreement with another nature photographer friend of mine. I, however, actually find the scent to be sweet and pleasant, if a little overpowering when you get close to the plant. Several of my children like the fragrance, while some others do not. As I have informally polled individuals who have encountered this species, it ends up being about a 50/50 split between those who find the scent pleasant or unpleasant.
This is actually one of the more common orchids, inhabiting most every county in the Florida peninsula and growing in woodlands and swamps.
Enjoy!
---Prem
A recent field trip to a known area in north-central Florida netted us this rare beauty. The Oval Ladies Tresses (Spiranthes ovalis) is very rarely seen, owing to its small stature and its general rarity.
After roughly an hour of hunting (during which time we saw several Spiranthes odorata in flower), we finally began to find some of these plants along with the natural hybrid/intergrade between these two, Spiranthes x ichteuckneensis.
Look for updates soon to my website with this species, along with the others we found that day.
---Prem
Congratulations for finding this blog! Welcome to Florida's Native Orchids. I thought I'd get started by posting a "fine art" black and white treatment of a favorite orchid of mine. This is Pteroglossaspis pottsii, aka Potts' Orchid, found in one small area in Citrus County, FL. As I was editing one of the pictures I took in September of this year, the selection mask for the color range I was editing looked really cool as a standalone black and white treatment. So, I posted it as its own standalone image.
Here is the original:
and here is the image with a black and white treatment...I think it looks a bit like an old Daguerotype photo (sans the sepia tone):
This species was described in early 2007 as a distinct species as compared to Pteroglossaspis ecristata fma purpurea, which it somewhat resembles.
You can read more about this orchid here on my website:
Pteroglossaspis pottsii
Enjoy!
---Prem
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