Oval Ladies Tresses

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

Dreaming in Black and White

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