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Platanthera grandiflora & more... Chattahoochee National Forest June 2020 |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2019-2020) |
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Platanthera grandiflora & more... Chattahoochee National Forest June 2020 |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2019-2020) |
| 1 - Union Co, GA After a day of monitoring historic Isotria medeoloides sites, I checked out the relatively close location of another rare plant. This is one of the few extant Georgia populations of Large Purple Fringed Orchid (Platanthera grandiflora). When I arrived, I could find no sign of any blooms. I finally spotted a slight glimpse of pink, and found the sorriest excuse for an orchid raceme that I've seen. It consisted of one motley flower, one bud, and an aborted bud. |
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| This is not the first year that something happened to the orchids here. |
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| 2 - Gilmer Co, GA After coming up empty on that earlier foray, a few days later I visited the only other Georgia site that I'm aware of. I had a long drive on a rough, winding Forest Service road, followed by a long hike to reach the site. This spot had not produced many flowers in recent years, so I was happy to find eight inflorescences blooming. |
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| Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica) This was growing all through the woods along my trek to the orchids. |
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| These are scarce in NE Georgia, but as soon as you get west of Blue Ridge, it grows like a weed! |
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| I had hoped to make it further west to see the pink and white varieties, but ran out of time after the orchid exploration... |
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| Finally, the star of the show... |
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| Greater Purple Fringed Orchid (Platanthera grandiflora) |
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| The flower clusters were small, but it was great just to see this species that is so rare in Georgia. |
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| Individual flower detail |
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| It seemed ironic that these inflorescences of the "Greater" orchid were so much smaller than the more common "Lesser" species... |
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| This photo illustrates one of the main differences between the Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid (P. psycodes) and the Greater Purple Fringed Orchid (P. grandiflora). The Greater Orchid (R) has a large round nectary opening, while the Lesser Orchid (L) has a nectary opening that is flattened and dumb-bell shaped |
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| A few other species seen along the way: Carolina Horse Nettle (Solanum carolinense) |
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| Spiderwort (Tradescantia sp.) |
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| Redring Milkweed (Asclepias variegata) |
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| Pale Beardtongue (Penstemon pallidus) |