Prosthechea cochleata - An Increasingly Rare Orchid

Prosthechea cochleata, known as the Clamshell Orchid and the Black Orchid in Belize (it is their national flower) is relatively common in the tropical areas to the south of Florida, and it makes a tenuous foray into the southern swamps as well.  In times past, this would have been counted as one of the more abundant epiphytes in Florida, but habitat loss and collecting have made this increasingly hard to find.  Entire areas that once supported large colonies of this species have been stripped bare in recent years.  This is truly senseless, as this is not a hard species to find in cultivation, available commercially from many on-line orchid vendors and shipped right to your door.

This particular plant is a rather robust one, found deep in the Fakahatchee Strand.  It was in full flower in late November.  Interestingly enough, this particular plant was also photographed by the legendary Clyde Butcher and appears on his website.

Flowering spikes typically emerge in fall and bloom throughout the winter, providing no freakish weather occurs, bringing frost to the swamps.

Please don't take orchid plants from the wild, instead, leave them for others to enjoy.

Here is the profile page on the Florida Native Orchid website (click to follow it):

http://www.flnativeorchids.com/natives_gallery/prosthechea_cochleata.htm 

And here is one of the photographs we took that day:

Florida Clamshell Orchid (Prosthechea cochleata)

The Rarest of Beauties from the Ashes - Calopogon multiflorus

Florida is home to four species of grass pinks, Calopogon tuberosus, Calo. pallidus, Calo. barbatus, and finally the endangered Calopogon multiflorus.  The former group of three species is still rather common in Florida, finding homes equally as suitable in wet, open pinelands and prairies and wet roadsides and ditches.  In the last environments, substantial colonies of plants may arise, all within easy access of a car parked (safely) on the roadside.

Calo. multiflorus, on the other hand, is very exacting in its choice of habitat, preferring to flower only after a fire has removed the competing vegetation in a suitable open pineland or semi-wet prairie.  Even when the vegetation is low and still relatively open, C. multiflorus will seem to remain dormant, or, at least, non-blooming, whereas other species of Calopogon will seem to do fine, as long as an adequate supply of moisture and accessible sunshine is received. 

As we European settlers have move to Florida, we have brought our natural fear of fire, and for a number of decades, we have sought to suppress natural fires at all costs, especially during the first three-quarters of the 20th century.  Thankfully, attitudes have changed, and the use of prescribed burning and/or letting natural wildfires progress has restored a more healthy fire regime to many wild lands.  In developed areas, however, where small pockets of wild land are sandwiched between houses and commercial developments, "brush fires" are usually suppressed with extreme prejudice.

The result is that fire-dependent species of orchids such as Calo. multiflorus and Pteroglossaspis ecristata are becoming quite scarce throughout their historical range.  It may also be the case with C. multiflorus that it is not often recorded even when it does emerge after a suitable fire.  

I had been on a hunt for this species for many years.  One year, on a report that a small colony of this species was in flower at a nearby wilderness area, I had to wait a week before I could find a free morning to go photograph the plants.  By the time I had arrived, they were bloomed out, and impossible to find as just small stems with seed pods hidden amongst the scorched twigs.

Finally, just this year, on the tip of a fellow nature photographer, I was able to drive to an area where these were still flowering.  What lovely little creatures they were, with bright magenta flowers that seem on average to be a bit smaller than Calo. barbatus, arranged along a short raceme.  They also seem to be rounder and fuller in flower presentation than C. barbatus, owing to the fact that their petals become wider near their tips.

The day was cool (mid-50s in the morning) and pleasant.  It was a bit windy, which made it challenging to get a good shot with no motion blur.  I was unable to set the aperture to an optimal value, so the flower closeup below is actually a bit of a stack/composite to show all parts of the flower well.

Here are some of the photographs we took that day.

Several plants in situ.

Flower close up.

You can read more about this species and see more photographs from that day on my website:

http://www.flnativeorchids.com/natives_gallery/calopogon_multiflorus.htm

Habenaria quinqueseta (v. macroceratitis) done for FLOR500 project.

Awhile ago, I was made aware of a project called FLOR500, which invited 500 local Florida artists to participate in creating artwork representing 500 species of wildflowers native to Florida.  This is to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon's landing on the Florida coast and giving the state its name.

I chose Habenaria quinqueseta (v. macroceratitis), known from the Central Florida region, for my art piece, done in chalk pastel on black recycled art paper.  Click the image to see a larger version.

You can find out more about FLOR500 here:

http://www.xaviercortada.com/?page=FLOR500_about 

And you can find my individual artist and artwork page here:

http://www.xaviercortada.com/?page=FLOR295 

Venice Area Orchid Show, Venice, FL

We were at the Venice Area Orchid Show on the weekend of Feb 3 and 4th.  Below is a picture of my daughter Emily with our sales table. 

In addition to selling matted photograph prints, frame prints, canvases, t-shirts, greeting cards, and the like, I entered a photo of Miguel Urquia's Ghost orchid in the arts and crafts exhibit at the show, where it took a first place ribbon. Miguel (God rest his soul) would have been proud to see this.

The next show we will be doing is the Florida Native Plant society 2013 conference in the Jacksonville, Florida area.  I will be exhibiting and selling as well as speaking on Friday, May 17th.

Ghost Orchid Earrings

Last Valentine's Day, I bought a pair of ghost orchid earrings from LeaFloria Jewelry on Etsy (click to visit her site).  I am in no way associated with her...I just think her jewelry is awesome.  I think they very nicely reproduce the general anatomy of the ghost orchid in a nicely stylized fashion.  They are sterling silver with a small pearl hanging from their entwined labellar lobes.  Here is my lovely wife and the love of my life, Joy, modeling these earrings:

Enjoy.

Spooky Orchids for Halloween

Here are a few spooky-looking or spooky-named fall-blooming orchids from the state of Florida:

Habenaria odontopetala, or the toothpetal false rein orchid, is in flower now. The small, 1/2-inch-wide flowers look like small goblins. The spiderwebs add to the spooky effect. Did I mention that these flowers are only fragrant at night? Haunting Florida swamps and forests with their ghostly fragrance.

Another fall-blooming orchid, the Wild Coco (Eulophia alta) blooms in September in central Florida, spreading into December in south Florida. The flowers have somewhat of a resemblance to erect-eared, fanged dog heads. With multiple "heads" per spike (which can reach up to five feet tall), these are a worthy botanical analogue of Cerberus, the multi-headed dog guarding the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology.

Usually, this orchid blooms in summertime, although occasional fall-blooming plants are found. Still, with the common name of Ghost Orchid, Dendrophylax lindenii is a perfect Halloween orchid. It is also keenly night fragrant, pollinated by the Giant Sphinx Moth that also inhabits Florida's haunted southern swamps.

Click the "View the Gallery" graphic at the top of this blog page to see many more photos of Florida's amazing orchids.
  

Hats off to the state of Florida and volunteers!

A road widening project underway in Volusia county threatened a number of native species, including the threatened Scarlet Ladies' Tresses (Sacoila lanceolata).  The state DOT, along with volunteers, ensured that plants and animals threatened by the expansion would stand a chance of survival.

Read the article.

Find out more about the Scarlet Ladies Tresses by clicking the thumbnail below:

At Long Last, Platanthera integra

Armed with the fact that yellow fringeless orchids (Platanthera integra) were finally in bloom in the Florida panhandle in the general vicinity of Tallahassee, I made my way north again with the hope of recapturing these in flower with improved photographic equipment, as my previous photos were taken years ago with a 4 megapixel Sony Mavica.

My original goal was to be at a specifically known site early in the morning to use that highly sought after "magical morning light" for my photographs.  Well, when I was setting my phone alarm, something happened and I forgot to save the new time.  So, at 9:30, I awoke to find that most of the magical morning light is well gone before even heading out, not to mention the hour-long drive (and at least a 30 minute hike) before I would be face-to-face with blooming plants.  Sometimes things don't start out by going your way.  I frantically heat up some breakfast and head out the door.

I finally arrived at the site around 10:30 and began my hike into the wet savannah--made even wetter by recent soaking rains from Hurricane Isaac.  After just a few minutes of slogging through ankle-high water, my pants were soaked to my knees.  Pressing on, I rounded the bend of dwarfed cypress trees and very tall pitcher plants (Sarracenia flava) into the area where I was told that they had been seen a few years ago.

Nothing.  Not a single plant to be seen.  

After a quickly worded prayer and some hard thinking, I remembered something being said about these plants being seen on the backside of this particular savannah.  So, as I began my disappointed hike back out of the area, I made my way over near the far eastern edge near the treeline of widely scattered pines.  As I approached, I caught a flash of saffron yellow bobbing above the grasses in a gentle breeze.  A little closer, and I was sure of it...I was finally gazing upon one of these old friends that I had known since boyhood.

A search of the surrounding area yielded eight other plants in flower.  One non-blooming plant (just a large leaf) grew near the first plant I spotted.  It was 11:15 AM at this point, and the light was more approaching high noon and perilously sunny.  While overhead, high-contrast light is considered the bane of most flower photographers, I make the best of it.  In this case, I actually think it helped to accentuate the crystalline texture of the miniature flowers (each only 1 cm wide).

Scanning the sky, I saw clouds near the horizon, as they made their way slowly in my direction.  So, I waited, and waited some more, as I knew their diffuse light would make for some nicer photographs.  As I waited, the breeze began to pick up, so I hastily construct a stabilizing scaffolding for the stem using some branches within reach. A few candidate clouds moved just a little too far to one side to block the sun, so I had to wait even longer for the right cloud to come near.  I managed to fire off one or two shots when a small cloud did block the sun for just a few seconds.

Suddenly, a red flash on my camera display indicated my battery had run out.  To make matters worse, I forgot to charge my backup battery, so it is down to almost zero charge on that backup as well.  The final photographs would have to be done looking through the lens manually, rather than relying on the sensor view. 

I waited longer.  Finally, the right cloud blocked the sun properly, giving me some nicely diffused light to work with.  I fired off multiple shots, continuing to do so even as the cloud began to pass by and the light brightened again.  Just on the cusp of that border between cloud-lit and sunlit, I found what I felt to be the best photo of the bunch.

Here it is...I give to you this weekend's best photo of Platanthera integra. 

Hiking out, I found two more plants closer to the road.  Then, as I began my drive back, I spotted two more populations separated each by several miles from the other.

All told, I was rewarded with finding about 20 plants in three scattered populations.  A rewarding day and a refreshing one as well...being immersed in a sea of green foliage does wonders for a soul that lives in an every-day world violated by concrete and asphalt.

You can read more about this species here:

>>> Platanthera integra profile page. <<<