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More Late Summer Orchids At Home & the adjacent S. Nantahala Wilderness |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2018) |
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More Late Summer Orchids At Home & the adjacent S. Nantahala Wilderness |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2018) |
| Late summer 2018 turned out to be quite an exciting time for botanizing around our home. In addition to the Three Birds Orchid colonies I found in mid-August, September brought some additional new orchid finds below our place and in the adjoining Wilderness Area. Early September: |
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| October Ladies' Tresses Orchid (Spiranthes ovalis var. erostellata) |
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| Entire plant, in habitat |
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| Interestingly, I'd seen this species for the first time just a day prior at Coweeta. |
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| I was checking recent hog rooting when I spotted the first flowering stalk here. |
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| While not a large population, these orchids were a nice find. |
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| Of course, there were other things to see besides the October Ladies' Tresses... I checked on this group of Calostoma that I had been following for the past month or two... |
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| I think this is one of the Otidea fungi, due to the split cup with overlapping edges. |
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| The Hearts-a-Bustin' (Euonymus americanus) were in full "burst" mode... |
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| Caterpillar of an American Dagger Moth (Acronicta americana) on a tree trunk |
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| Tens days later, I took a walk up one of the creek branches to see if Turtleheads were blooming yet, since I had seen them blooming at some nearby locations. Besides a few Turtleheads, I found another cool "first for me" orchid species. Mid September: |
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| White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) A number of plants were in bud, but these were the only blooms so far. |
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| I saw a number of colorful fungi along the creek: Shaggy-stalked Bolete (Heimioporus betula) |
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| A yellow Bolete |
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| A purple Mycena species |
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| From a distance, I spotted several groups of gone-to-seed Indian Pipes (Monotropa uniflora). I got closer because I couldn't see if they were Indian Pipes or Pinesap. |
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| As I looked around, I noticed some nearby plants that were vaguely similar, but different. At first I thought they were one of the summer orchids gone to seed. |
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| But then I recognized them as one of the Coral-root orchids (Corallorhiza sp.) |
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| It wasn't until I got home that I identified them as Autumn Coral-root Orchids (Corallorhiza odontorhiza) |
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| Ironically, one of my botanist friends, Max Medley had asked me several times if I'd seen any Corallorhiza around here, and I'd always told him "no"... |
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| While not uncommon, it is not an easy flower to spot if you're not looking for them (or even if you ARE looking for them!) |
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| Like other members of its genus, it is myco-heterotrophic: it primarily obtains nutrients not from photosynthesis but through mycorrhizal fungi. |