Trail Tales (or Stuff I've Seen While Hunting For Orchids), Part 1

One fine morning, while hiking back out of a local wildlife sanctuary, I was about to step on what I thought was a stick, when, suddenly, my eyes detected a distinctively non-stick-like pattern. It turned out to be a youngish cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus) sunning itself in the trail. Thankfully, these snakes are not nearly as aggressive as legend says they are (it is my understanding that they get this mistaken reputation from highly aggressive, non-poisonous water snakes). A quick flick with my walking stick near the tail, and this fellow(ette) decided the swamp on the other side of the trail was more to his/her liking.


As of yet, I've not been bitten by a venomous snake...I'm praying that it stays that way.

Ghost Orchid Painting - Experimenting with Watercolor Pencils

I was inspired to try something by a post several years ago on the previous instantiation of Misti Little's blog (Oceanic Wilderness in my blogroll). In the post, she was interviewing an artist friend who used watercolor pastels to do painting and was describing how they gave her the precision of pastel drawing with the final result looking like a watercolor after water was applied to the paper. This intrigued me immensely, so I filed this away in my brain. Fast-forward to about two weeks ago, where I was picking up some art supplies for my kids--I spied a box of watercolor pencils.

I figured I'd give them a whirl. I immediately fixed upon Miguel Urquia's Ghost Orchid as my subject of interest. Here's the photo below:



And here's the result. I feel like it's pretty good for my first effort, but I definitely have some room for improvement:



Here are a couple of detail shots:





Let me know what you think in the comments, but please remember, this is my first attempt at this medium.

---Prem

September 15, 2010: Corkscrew Swamp Ghost Orchid Blooms again

I just received a tweet from the Corkscrew Swamp twitter feed indicating that there are four flowers open now on the 'Super Ghost Orchid' at Corkscrew Swamp. This will be the fourth flush of blooms this venerable orchid has had this year. To learn more about Corkscrew Swamp, click the page link below:

Corkscrew Swamp Home Page

For those of you unfamiliar with this particular orchid, the large ghost orchid at Corkscrew Swamp (often dubbed the 'Super Ghost') was discovered in 2007 at Corkscrew Swamp near Naples, Florida and is the only ghost orchid whose location is made known to the general public. I have blogged about this plant previously. Follow the link below to see these entries:

Corkscrew Ghost Orchid at The Florida Native Orchid Blog

This will likely be the last blooming for this orchid for this year (in fact, it's very hard to find any ghost orchids in bloom this late in the year), so if you can make the trip down there, you won't be disappointed.

Florida's Oft-overlooked Ghost Orchid-- Dendrophylax porrectus

We are now entering the blooming season for Florida's enigmatic 'Little Ghost Orchid' (not its actual common name - Jingle Bell Orchid or Needleroot Orchid are the most often used names). It was originally discovered in Florida growing in a citrus grove near Oneco, FL, then having the name Aeranthus porrectus. It has since bounced around between several genera and species - Harrisella porrecta, Campylocentrum porrectum, Campylocentrum filiforme, to finally land in the genus Dendrophylax (as Dendrophylax porrectus) , the same genus as its more famous cousin, the Ghost Orchid. While the Ghost Orchid has large, showy flowers, Dendrophylax porrectus has tiny, inconspicuous flowers barely bigger than a pinhead growing on a plant that is easily overlooked, being just a bundle of untidy roots. It is most likely the most common epiphytic orchid in Florida, but is very rarely seen...giving it a state protected status of Threatened. While the range of other epiphytic orchids has decreased due to freezes in the 70s and 80s, folks continue to find new northern populations, gradually extending its known range northward. While it used to be found commonly in citrus groves, the use of herbicides to control ball mosses, wild pines and other air plants of the genus Tillandsia has made it unlikely to find them in this habitat anymore.



Its seed pods are probably the most conspicuous aspect of this plant, fairly large and turning a bright brown-orange just prior to dehiscing.



The most common host trees for this orchid are Eastern Red Cedar, Pop Ash, Bald Cypress, and Pond Apple. They are most commonly found on small twigs an inch or less in diameter, especially in the crooks between branches, but I have seen plants growing on larger branches and, even in one case, on a fairly large tree trunk. The typical habitat for these will be near a swampy area where other more moisture-loving epiphytes are growing - Encyclia tampensis, Epidendrum magnoliae, Tillandsia setacea, Tillandsia bartramii, Tillandsia utriculata, Tillandsia balbisiana, Tillandsia variabilis, Tillandsia fasciculata, Tillandsia paucifolia (bulbosa), Tillandsia simulata. Look up at the undersides of branches for slender, silvery orchid roots that don't connect to anything resembling a plant. If you're lucky, you'll see the tiny green flowers that are a marvel of miniaturization nestled amongst split seed pods that look very much like little brown bells.


It blooms from August in central Florida into November in the southern counties. Click the link below to see more photographs and read more about this intriguing miniature orchid:

>> Dendrophylax porrectus (Harrisella porrecta) Information Page at Florida Native Orchids <<

Michaux's Orchid (Habenaria quinqueseta)

Michaux's Orchid (Habenaria quinqueseta) is rather widespread in the state of Florida, being found in a large swathe of the peninsula and even a few panhandle counties. Its spidery white-green flowers emerge from this time of year in north-central Florida into wintertime in the southernmost counties. I had the privilege of photographing this orchid at a lovely couple's house in the Brooksville, Florida (Citrus County) area. While I was not able to be there to verify this in person, they described the flowers as having a night fragrance that strongly resembled magnolias.

Interestingly enough, as I was reading their e-mail describing the fragrance, another e-mail came in from someone who lived in the same general area asking me to identify her yard volunteer orchids. It turned out to be more of the same species growing not five miles from where I was photographing that day. Apparently, these orchids like to grow in people's yards in the Brooksville area. This makes me want to move to Brooksville.


The spidery flowers are the largest of the Habenarias in the US, spanning 1.5 to 2 inches (3.7 to 5cm) across.

A previous post to this blog showed Habenaria macroceratitis, which some consider as a variety of H. quinqueseta. Others maintain this to be a separate species, based on several characteristics, including the spur length (H. quinqueseta has a significantly shorter spur/nectary than H. macroceratitis)

You can read more about this species at the new information page at the Florida Native Orchid website:

>> Michaux's Orchid Information Page at www.flnativeorchids.com <<

I have also created an information page for H. macroceratitis:

>> Long-horned False Rein Orchid at www.flnativeorchids.com<<

Enjoy!
---Prem