My topic was "A Year in the Bog with Florida's Orchids", covering a year's worth of terrestrial orchids resident in acid bogs and wetlands in the state of Florida.
I have posted a profile of Vanilla mexicana (common name: Fuchs' Vanilla, Mexican Vanilla) to the Florida Native and Naturalized Orchids page, giving some detailed information on this species, its historical range, photos, classification, synonymy and other data. A naturalist/photographer friend of mine, Chris Evans, had relocated a seemingly extirpated population of these extremely rare plants in a natural area in southeastern Florida. I joined him the next weekend to explore the nearby swamp, armed with some additional information on specific plant locations. In the process, we found a very robust, large plant sporting many seed pods, a bud and an open flower.
Photographing the flower was particularly challenging, as it was roughly 12 feet up the tree, thankfully in some very strong, slightly-diffused sunlight, which allowed a fast shutter speed and good depth of field. My two sons who had accompanied me helped stabilize the fully extended tripod with my camera mounted on top, angling downward. Using the flip-out screen on my Canon T3i, I was able to judge approximately where the camera was pointing in live preview mode. I then used my infrared remote trigger to fire off shot after shot. Many shots were blurry or misframed, but a few came out in decent shape. Combining two shots with slightly different focal points, I was able to get the majority of the highly 3-dimensional flower in focus.
Plant climbing up a Sabal Palm (Sabal palmetto) tree:
Flower:
Please follow the link below to see the full on-line profile for this species:
Neither the Greenfly Orchid (Epidendrum magnoliae) nor the Water Spider Orchid (Habenaria repens) is a particularly rare plant. In fact, both are quite common in the state of Florida.
Epidendrum magnoliae can be found in most of the state, only excluded from the southern third of the peninsula. You need only scan the branches of oak trees in hammock, swamp, and riverine areas in its range and you are almost sure to find some plants growing. Its range is surprisingly northerly for a tropical epiphytic orchid, being found as far north as coastal North Carolina. Plants in the north tend to bloom in June with another flush of flowers in late fall, while southern plants seem to favor August with a potential second flush of flowers in mid-winter. The following video shows plants in flower in a natural area in southwestern Seminole County, Florida.
While hiking to some of the spots where we knew some particularly accessible Epidendrum magnoliae to grow, we discovered a previously unknown colony of Water Spider Orchids (Habenaria repens) growing in a small pond. H. repens is a truly inconspicuous orchid, blending quite well with other pond vegetation. Even in full flower, the green flowers are quite inconspicuous, relying on night-produced perfume rather than sight to attract their pollinators. The following video shows some of the plants we discovered that day:
Cattleya Monte Elegante 'Hsin Pu'
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I photographed this orchid at this month meeting of the PR orchid judging
center. The plant was tall, had immaculate pseudobulbs and the
inflorescence...
Life Lately | September 2024
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Liatris acidota in the Hickory Creek Savannah Unit of the Big Thicket NP
Hello friends! As you can tell, I have not written here much in the last
few month...
White Sunnybell - Schoenolirion albiflorum
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White sunnybell (*Schoenolirion albiflorum*) is a perennial member of the
agave family. It occurs throughout peninsular Florida in the eastern half
of ...
Two Platantheras Near Home
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This year was an especially good year for wildflowers and orchids in our
area due to a longer, cooler and wetter spring. The last while I found
several ...
Florida Nature Facts #145 – Drone Flies
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While bees are the current darlings of the invertebrate world, drone flies
deserve a lot of credit as well. Not only do these cousins to mosquitoes,
hous...
Early October swamp
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Banks overtopping ... And canals intersecting with strands. The regular
summer onslaughtof summer showers is nearing its end,but could more
tropical rai...
Arable extension
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In the past Canons Farm has been the subject of this infrequent blog on a
number of occasions, I have a particular aversion to the agricutural
concrete...
My Woodsy Garden
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I’m still here y’all! My new-to-me garden is almost 5 years old. Just
popping in here with a quick video to give you a glimpse of how it’s grown.
The view ...
Seasonality of Fire Revisited
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This is an update of a previous post regarding the seasonality of fire
(click link below). It is an extensive summary of literature pertaining to
the subje...
Serapias bergonii
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Όλυμπος 25/04/2009 Olimpos
photo Zissis Antonopoulos Ζήσης Αντωνόπουλος
Η Σεραπιάς του Μπεργκόν (Serapias bergonii, E. G. Camus 1908) είναι ορχιδέα
της Ανα...
Flower Friday: Butterfly orchid
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*Butterfly orchid (Encyclia tampensis) *
*Photo by Mary Keim* *Click on terms for botanical definitions. *
Butterfly orchid is a slow-growing, epiphytic pe...
Asteridea asteroides - Star-like Asteridea
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Click image to enlarge
*Asteridea asteroides - Star-like Asteridea*
This exotic looking plant that you might think was a garden escapee, is in
fact a...
Crested caracara seen on PI!
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Today I was lucky enough to watch a crested caracara eating some dead fish
along the side of an embankment. This species is one of my favorites!
Unfortunat...
Should I stay or should I go?
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I haven’t been posting to this site for the past year even though I do have
more flowers to add. There aren’t ever any comments to any of the posts, so
I a...
Betting Odds On World Cup Soccer 2014
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World Cup Odds
If you really like soccer, also know as "futbol", get all set to get
pleasure from loads of action on Tv for the epic FIFA World Cup 2010
v...
My blog featured in Orchids made easy
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Ryan and Laura Levesque, authors of *Orchids Made Easy* - a book and
website all about how to care for orchids, invited me for an interview for
their web ...
Pholidota chinensis in bloom last month
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I can't believe I haven't posted since November! Definitely overdue :) One
of my newer orchis is a Pholidota chinensis, which I acquired February 2010
@ th...
Brassavola cucullata - ghost-like flower.
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Brassavola cucullata is a species that hails from Mexico and much of
Central America. Like other flowers in the genus, this species has
intensely night-fr...
The Florida National Scenic Trail
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Many people are probably unaware that there is a 1,400 mile trail that
traverses the length and breadth of the Sunshine State and was the
brainchild of a ...