four queens of the forest

[cnycharles]

... or four native orchids and their royal retinue that I saw last week on a birthday road trip! two of the orchids are ladyslippers, so I put this collection in the cypripedium section

I managed to get last tuesday afternoon off from work, so I bolted before they could change their mind and met up with orchid friends Ken Hull, Bard Prentiss and .... in central ny to see isotria verticillata in flower! they all arrived a bit earlier as I had to drive quite a ways to get there (and stopped on the way to get some pizza and chicken riggies ... :drool: )

the first orchid I saw was a very nice double-flowered large whorled pogonia! I decided to make this rush trip because Bard mentioned in an email that there was a very nice double flower and since I had never seen one before felt this was a trip to make (i'll make different windows for each group of pictures since I probably won't be able to edit and upload them all at once)

when you see a group of whorled pogonia flowers or plants, you are actually looking at the surface of an orchid colony that likely has all connected tubers. individual plants and flowers are very likely all connected. so, one of the problems with trying to get up close to these flowers and take pictures is the likelihood that you are damaging the colony somehow. that said, this colony has a deer or two that sleep almost directly on top of some of the plants (plus a few plants are right in their trail)

this plant had it's flower facing directly upwards. I believe that when a flower is pollinated, it's ovary swells and the flower then turns upwards. it made for an easier close-up look at the front of the flower

this picture is showing a close group of over a half-dozen flowering plants; they are very hard to see on the forest floor, how many can you see?

another flowering plant blended right in with the undergrowth

i'll have a lot more pictures in new 'reply' windows

 

[Heather]

Very cool!
How much sun do they get? Their leaves remind me of Indian Cucumber a little bit.

 

[Shiva]

Very nice in their own way.

 

[Erythrone]

Elegant queen of the forest!

 

[SlipperFan]

Thanks for the tour!

 

[Ross]

I've never seen this beauty before. Thanks!

 

[W. Beetus]

Amazing plants! Very nice.

 

[Rick]

I've only seen pics of whorled pagonia. Very awesome Charles.

Some say they may come up (to bloom) as infrequently as every 7 years.

So this is an awesome find.

 

[JeanLux]

without that supercool bloom, I would not have guessed these plants to be orchids!!!! Thanks !!! Jean

 

[cnycharles]

Very cool!
How much sun do they get? Their leaves remind me of Indian Cucumber a little bit.

very perceptive! I took some pictures of the plant above to compare, as it's the plant most people will confuse the orchid with when they are out looking for isotria. they get bright, dappled light as they are usually underneath tall trees either on dry, acidic ground or oddly enough, in moss in a fenny wet area

rick, yes; they often don't come up very often though you can find scattered plants but none or very few flowering. so, we visit this spot every few years hoping that it will be flowering or to find at least one plant in flower. this year was a bonus as one person said that it had been many years since there were so many flowering plants there. I found another colony with a good number of flowering plants not far away, and there were many non-flowering seedlings all scattered around each colony

here is a plant of the indian cucumber root

whole plant that looks very similar to isotria verticillata except see the tiny flowers above

the leaves do look very similar to isotria

the stem of icr is very thin and wiry, though instead of blue, wide and hollow. icr has a white fuzz on the stem, while isotria v. has a white blush over the blue

 

[Heather]

My first thought was, oh crap, I hope I didn't yank any of those up when taking school groups through our Indian Cucumber patch at the museum I used to work at - I was always digging them up for kids to see.

 

[cnycharles]

well, if the plant you yanked up didn't have a wide/hollow stem, then you were in luck!

 

[cnycharles]

queen two

between the two colonies of large whorled pogonia there were a few pink ladyslippers flowering (cypripedium acaule). pink ladyslippers can be very common in more acidic areas and in some spots up in the adirondack park there can be large numbers of them. but, they are beautiful when viewed up close and there's always the hope of getting the perfect closeup shot!

habitat shot of the first pink moccasin flower

interesting view because of the turned stem

some sun, and some amazing detail!

these plants were in heavy shade with a bit of sun here and there, so it made balancing the light and color a bit difficult. pink ladyslippers in full sun can be breathtaking when viewed up close. I heard from someone recently that the flowers have a nice fragrance so I tried to sniff one of these, but couldn't really detect anything (though my sinuses have been full, lately)

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Charles, neat to see this one in flower, particularly with double flowers! I've seen plants up and down the eastern seaboard, but only a couple times in flower. I searched out that colony in north Florida in vain for years, but only turned up the look-alike Medeola.

Thanks for these shots, they are a real treat!

I've only seen pics of whorled pagonia. Very awesome Charles.

Some say they may come up (to bloom) as infrequently as every 7 years.

So this is an awesome find.

Rick, if you go to some of the ridge-line forests of Smoky Mountains NP there are places carpeted with them - if you go there the right year. I eagerly drove 9 hours to photograph a colony of many hundreds of plants one Memorial Day weekend only to find a few sterile specimens and one gone to seed :sob: Of course the huge colonies of C. parviflorum made up for that a bit

If you're interested in trying your luck, PM me and I can give you more specific directions to a large colony up there.

 

[Heather]

Those are lovely - you are making me miss the Northeast lately!

 

[tocarmar]

Very Cool!!
Does anyone know if there is a place to buy them (legally)? Anyone grow them with seed pods???

 

[cnycharles]

I don't know if anyone has tried to grow them in cultivation starting in pots, since they (whorled pogonias) really are a spread-out colony. I don't know how they would handle being contained. that said, I don't remember seeing them for sale but that doesn't mean anything...
Tom, just letting you know that I haven't completely forgotten about your interest in native orchid images.. I actually was remembering while I was at work this morning. things will slow down, soon and I can begin to remember what real life is like (outside of the spray suit)

 

[tocarmar]

I don't know if anyone has tried to grow them in cultivation starting in pots, since they (whorled pogonias) really are a spread-out colony. I don't know how they would handle being contained. that said, I don't remember seeing them for sale but that doesn't mean anything...
Tom, just letting you know that I haven't completely forgotten about your interest in native orchid images.. I actually was remembering while I was at work this morning. things will slow down, soon and I can begin to remember what real life is like (outside of the spray suit)

I thought you had forgotten about it!!! It has been hectec here too!! Just let me know what you want to do!!! (Thanks)

 

[cnycharles]

some of the queen's retinue

after taking pictures of the pink ladyslippers I headed back up the rocky trail out to my car. I had seen some nice wildflowers on my way in and was determined to find some nice images on the way out

I saw many of these winged polygala in flower though many were old and falling apart

I don't remember the name of these millipedes (almond millipedes?), but remember being told and discovering many times that when disturbed they will roll up into a ball and give off an almond scent. it took many shots to get this one's legs in focus as it was moving quickly!

there were several colonies of these flowers along the path, in open spots where sun would shine in. they were very pretty in the dappled sunlight

this flower had a very curious and whimsical guest who was posing, just waiting for me to come back and take it's picture!

their color was just sublime in the subdued sunlight

this may not seem like anything interesting, but much of the previous week and that morning the clouds were present and rain was falling, and by this time the sun was shining and it was so nice to see actual blue sky!

at the entrance of the trail and the road was a wonderful display of wildflowers. I could have given directions to someone to 'drive up the road until you see the columbine, then turn left!'

i had remembered these columbine to be more red and yellow, but this year they were a different color

an interesting combination of may apple and canada mayflower

 

[Kevin]

Very nice!

Your 'musk mallow' is Wild Geranium - Geranium maculatum