Orchid Colonization

As a youngster, I always thought of orchids as being extremely delicate plants that needed exacting conditions in order to grow and flower.  I probably formed that opinion from watching TV shows in which hothouse orchids expired from encounters with cold drafts or little boy’s fingers.  I held on to my opinion until adulthood, but things changed when I was introduced to some of Ohio’s resident orchid species.  If these plants could survive the wild extremes of our weather patterns, they must possess a healthy dose of toughness and stamina.  The Blue Jay Barrens orchids, such as these Large Twayblades, express some of those qualities.

These orchids are growing in what, 30 years ago, was an annually plowed field devoted to the production of agricultural grain crops.  This exact spot is near the edge of the field in a location that was also used as a travel lane to move harvest equipment in and out of the field.  I planted a White Pine windbreak here 28 years ago that has since developed into a pine shaded strip with a thick bed of needles.  Into this, orchids have arisen.

If these flowers are properly pollinated, there will result a multitude of tiny seeds that are light enough to be picked up and carried long distances by the wind.  Those seeds just have to find the proper environment in which to germinate and develop new plants.

It’s encouraging to think that the cropland soil could recover sufficiently in less than 30 years to be the proper medium for an orchid plant.  This event doesn’t fit my earlier perception of orchid behavior.  Highly compacted, heavily eroded cropland soil just doesn’t seem to be an ideal environment in which to find a plant as exotic as an orchid.

What was once a single blooming plant has become two.  This small leaf, growing beside the two mature plants, is indication that next year may bring a trio of blooming orchids.

Marked by sticks on my walking path is another species of orchid that has found the old crop field a suitable site for colonization.

Ragged Fringed Orchid is a plant of the open fields.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to see when growing in a field full of tall grasses.  Each year I mark those growing up in the trail, but something always seems to happen to them before they bloom.  I’m hoping one will produce a flower so I can get some photos.

This plant is looking quite healthy.  That bud should produce an impressive display.

This one isn’t faring nearly as well as the first.  Weevils have been feeding heavily here.

A third has succumbed to some type of wilt.  I’ve seen Ragged Fringed Orchids blooming in the field in the past, but that was pre digital camera.  I’ve already give it credit for being a tough plant and it has certainly established itself widely across the field.  It would just please me greatly if one of those tenacious plants would favor me with a flower.

Large Twayblade Orchid

Growing on this site last June, I found a set of orchid leaves with a bare flower stalk. I thought then that it was probably Large Twayblade, Liparis liliifolia. I came back yesterday to see if I could catch the plant in bloom and found that the whole area had been torn up by the Wild Turkeys.

The turkeys had done a pretty thorough job of turning over the leaf litter. Fortunately, by brushing away a few leaves, I uncovered the plant I was seeking.

A slight bend to the flower stalk was all the damage the plant had suffered. It is as I suspected, a Large Twayblade. It’s so much easier to identify plants when the flower is there for you to see.

Last year it was just the stalk and some tiny pointed bracts that I had to deal with. It’s a nice feeling knowing that I had made a correct identification. It would have been even nicer if I had been wrong and brushed away the leaves to find an orchid I had never before seen.

Large Twayblade is just beginning its blooming period. My notes on Adams County Flora show that this plant should be flowering on May 25. This makes it look like things are pretty much on schedule, except that most of the Blue Jay Barrens plants bloom about two weeks later than those found in the central part of the county where bloom dates were recorded. This suggests that things are running a little ahead of schedule here.

Orchid flowers always present you with a bloom that borders on being unreal. Many people are unaware of the existence of orchids in Southern Ohio and they’ll give me a funny look when I suggest they spend some time in the woods looking at orchid flowers. Most just plain don’t believe me when I tell them there are 13 species of orchids just at Blue Jay Barrens. Of course, many people don’t believe anything I say.
____________________________________________
I’ll take a moment here to share a little story that has nothing to do with orchids, but illustrates how people disregard most of what I say. If you want to stay with the orchids, skip on down.

While in college, I was seated across the card table from a fellow student when a bit of ash fell from his cigarette and lodged between the outside of his shirt pocket and his cigarette pack. I watched as the fabric began to burn and form a hole.

Him: “I smell something burning.”

Me: “Your shirt’s on fire.”

Him: “Ha Ha. I’m serious. I smell smoke.”

Me: “I’m also serious. You shirt’s on fire.”

Him: “Stop it.” He begins looking from side to side. “There’s something burning in here.”

Me: “Your shirt’s on fire.” I point a finger towards his pocket where a column of smoke is beginning to form.

Him: “Yow.” He jumps up and starts smacking his pocket to put out the fire. Then he glares down at me. “Why didn’t you tell me my shirt was on fire?”

Me: “I told you three times.”

Him: “Well, I didn’t believe you. You didn’t sound excited about it at all.”

Me: “It wasn’t my shirt.”
_____________________________________________

Large Twayblade flowers are not self pollinating. In order to get seed, something must transfer the pollen from one plant to the next. This plant is pretty much alone, which could explain why I found nothing but a bare stalk last year

Even though this plant is alone, I did find another population on the next hill that had about two dozen plants. Large Twayblade grows in partial shade and begins to suffer if sunlight is much reduced. I’ll have to watch these areas to assure the plants don’t get overgrown.