So, let us enter the court of these lovely kings, queens, princes, and princesses and admire them for their beauty, their sheer ostentatiousness, as they grace the bogs with their royal presence...
First on our list is the delicate princess, Platanthera nivea, emerging one-to-two months before her more stately kin. Her delicate spikes of snowy-white flowers gleam with crystalline beauty in the sunny, wet meadows and moist pinelands where she makes her home. Plants are usually less than 18 inches tall (45.7 cm) with a three-inch (5 cm) flower head. Unlike many of her kindred, the flowers are presented with their unfringed lips held uppermost and bear an unmistakable fragrance--not unlike that of citrus blossoms.
You can read more about this species (and see more photos) at the newly revised FLNativeOrchids.com Snowy Orchid page below :>> The Snowy Orchid Information Page <<
---Prem
5 comments:
Superb flowers, Prem. Most of our Platantheras are the opposite of showy.
What a wonderful plant. I only recently have started to learn about orchids (prompted by reading the book The Orchid Thief last year). The plant pictured here is a charmer. I look forward to next post about orchids. Thank you.
Gorgeous! Looking forward to your post series!
Are bog orchids different than swamp orchids? And if not, is there a swamp family?
Robert,
in my mind, a swamp is more enclosed with trees, generally more moist (perhaps with even standing water) and a good bit shadier. The bogs/meadows where these orchids grow are fairly open, moist but not wet (at least where the orchids grow) and are dominated by either widely spaced pines or bog shrubs (saw palmetto, fetterbush, gallberry, mallows, etc.)
There is a whole group of terrestrials known from the swamps of southern Florida, some of which are showy (like the Fakahatchee Scarlett Ladies Tresses), which seem acclimated to lower light and heavier moisture than the bog-dwelling terrestrials.
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