Well, I made it to 300+ wildflowers in one year; photographed and identified. Things are slowing down; we had a low of 41 Fahrenheit this past week and frost must be in the near future. I am looking forward to the transition from hunting wildflowers to looking at the data and producing some graphs that show the number of natives to non-natives, number found here on the farm where I live and etc. I also look forward to hunting new wildflowers in the future with no self imposed goals, deadlines and etc; just adding new flowers to a personal life-list and this site to increase my knowledge base. I will also continue to post pictures of wildflower jaunts, and anything that I think is interesting from the natural world around here.
I went back to visit the Nodding Ladies Tresses in a wet field near my home. I wanted to see how it was progressing and try to give a sense of how many orchids are on that 1/2 acre site. The ground there is squishy with water and a small stream runs through it. There are thousands of orchids, as you can see in the picture below. I have never seen anything like it.
Right behind my home there is a spot where, in good years, there may be several dozen that I always thought were Nodding Ladies Tresses as well. Then I recently read the excellent article by Doug Jolley in the September 2013, Wonderful West Virginia magazine called Autumns Orchids, Ladies' Tresses. His article highlight several of the Ladies Tresses, but it was his description of Yellow Ladies Tresses that caught my attention. The descriptors for it were basically a later bloom time and dry location. Some descriptions include a yellow throat and yellow patch on the bottom of the bloom. I have been watching a group of Ladies Tresses that met the description but I was still unsure. But I found a group on the way to the Nodding Ladies Tresses that seems a sure thing.
There were a dozen plants in a dry field edge that were blooming later than the Nodding Ladies Tresses. The rank of the flowers is not nearly as spiraled (not a trait, just seems very different) ,it has a yellow throat and underneath has a yellow patch. I have tried to include photos to show these traits.
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| Close up of throat |
Wow! What a fine group of Spiranthes! You are fortunate to find so many in one spot. I agree that the second set is of S. ochroleuca. That yellow under the lip is very characteristic of that species. It also has a longer flower bract than S. cernua. Really nice shots of both, Charles!
ReplyDeleteJim Fowler, Greenville, SC
Thank you for the kind words and especially validating what I hoped was Yellow Ladies Tresses (S. ochroleuca). I have seen almost no new wildflowers in over a week. I do have a Gentian to post and expect Witchazel soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks again,
Charles