Blog updates - Long-horned orchid and Three Birds Orchid

[prem]

I have updated by blog with images from a recent trip to photograph the king of all the NA Habenarias with two-inch wide flowers and six-inch long nectaries. Here is one photo as a teaser:

The rest of the photos can be seen on my blog:

Florida's Native Orchids

Two years ago, I was out photographing Triphora trianthophora in the same woodland where the Habenaria macroceratitis lived. Something magical happened this particular time. The specific blog post can be found here:

Florida's Native Orchids: Visitor from Another Phylum

---Prem

 

[SlipperFan]

What did you think of Peter O'Byrne's comment on the OGD this morning? Will you try to do what he suggests? I agree with him: excellent photos!

 

[NYEric]

Cool stuff, thanx for the link. Welcome to STF from NYC.

 

[JeanLux]

Welcome!!!! And, cool pics!!! Jean

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Thanks for posting here Prem and including links to your excellent blog. You take fantastic shots of plants few will ever see with their own eyes. Believe it or not, the last place I lived in Florida was an 8 acre wooded lot that had both of these species present, though the Habenaria wasn't the long spurred variety, but rather just the typical H. quinqueseta.

 

[Clark]

Those photos are eye candy.
I'm ordering the bumper sticker today.

 

[rdlsreno]

Excellent photos!

Ramon

 

[prem]

Tom,
I'd love to find the standard variety in flower as well...if you could give me the approximate location of your old place, perhaps I could find some publicly accessible wooded areas nearby that contained these as well.

--Prem

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Tom,
I'd love to find the standard variety in flower as well...if you could give me the approximate location of your old place, perhaps I could find some publicly accessible wooded areas nearby that contained these as well.

--Prem

Prem, I actually know a colony of T. trianthaphora that used to exist on public land that was immense, but the number of flowering plants jumped from literally hundreds to just a handful the next year. I've found that this species loves secondary oak forest growing over old sandhills. For some reason the fungi that support their growth seem to love that set up and if the rains and temperatures are just right, you can find huge colonies some years. The Habenaria by contrast were much more uncommon.

Email me and I'll give you an idea of where to look in the Gainesville area - it is loaded with this type of forest and I can even tell you the specific colony I spoke of. Good orchid hunting!

 

[prem]

SlipperFan,
Peter is, of course, correct in that I did not actually document the transfer of pollen from one flower to another...I caught a fleeting glimpse of a visitor that might be a pollinator. With Triphoras, it might be harder to document pollen transfer than with other orchids, owing to the mealy pollen that they have. Icones is also probably right in stating that these are autogamous. Then again, there may be some pollen toward the front of the column that has not germinated, which would be transferable by some sort of insect to another flower. It is really hard to observe with such minuscule flowers out in the field that only flower for one day out of many.

I remember Wally Wilder indicating that he heard a theory put forth by someone (was it Paul M. Brown?) that T. craigheadii might have its origins in a distant-past crossing between T. rickettii and T. trianthophora. From observing the plants in the wild, I would say this is not beyond the realm of possibility. That would, of course, mean that pollen could be transferred between flowers.

---Prem

 

[SlipperFan]

Thanks, Prem. I thought an interesting discussion ensued after posting your photos, both here and on the OGD. I hope you will continue to post more.

And welcome to Slippertalk!

 

[Heather]

Hey Prem, nice to see you here. Welcome!

 

[cnycharles]

Bump of other's native pics from Florida