Educated Eye


Platanthera lacera, Rhode Island

The Educated Eye

Orchid hunting in the woods or grasslands is as much a matter of seeing the orchids as it is knowing the right place and time to see them. After I do internet searches, after I network with people who know of past locations, then I have to get out there and hunt. Lace up my boots. Strap on my gaiters. Bug spray. Hat. Water bottle. Granola bars, as some of the locations can be a three or four hour walk.

This summer I found a large patch of Spiranthes with a few Platanthera clavatellas mixed in completely by accident. But it was my educated eye that noticed them when my primary objective was to go for a swim.

Since I was in single digits of age, I've spent time in the woods. I learned a lot of the basic plant types by reading and re-reading the Peterson Guide Series. I like the Audubon books too, but I find that the drawings in the Peterson books are easier to understand than the photographs in the other.

One of my strong points in finding things is to notice and identify what else is growing in the area. When I'm looking at a Pink Ladyslipper Orchid, Cypripedium acaule, I notice what the entire area is like. East facing slope, approximately 70% shade, deciduous canopy, low-bush blueberries towards the edge of the dirt road, Ladyslippers growing approximately 5 feet from the edge of the road to about 25 feet away but not further away, where Hemlocks begin to close out the light. Mixed other undergrowth including Canadian Lily of the Valley, Star Flowers, Sarsaparilla, Trailing Arbutus, a small amount of grass. Trees are mixed Grey Birch, Black Birch, a couple of small Sugar Maples, a few Red Oak leaves contributing to a heavy coating of leaves on the ground.

Given this awareness, next time I see a similar mix of trees and plants, and amount of light, I will look for Ladyslippers. And often, find them. Goodyera orchids are another of the woodland orchids. And are found in similar growing areas. Sometimes, we see Goodyera and Cypripedium orchids intermixed.

The woods where I grew up were very much that sort of world. Consistently, mile after mile, there are a few other things mixed in such as ground covers of Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens), Twinflower (Linnea borealis) with its haunting, unforgettable scent, any of the Trilliums, Wild Ginger, Fringed Polygala. You see why my copy of Peterson's is so well-worn!

What I didn't have a lot of exposure to was wet grasslands or bogs. So I went to some of those places where it is known that there are orchids and looked around. I brought my guide books. I looked for orchids as well as the plants growing around them.

Wet grasses means exactly that. Tussocks are mounds of roots and years worth of dead grass that has piled up. Even in the driest summers there may be water around the bases of the grass, or it may just be that the ground is noticeably lower.

Some of the plants associated with a wet meadow are Button Bush, Swamp Milkweed (not the regular meadow one, but a narrow-leaved, moisture loving plant), Joe Pye Weed, Clethra bushes. Oddly enough, one of the plants rarely associated with orchid locations is the Cattail reed. If I see those, I usually look elsewhere. Ferns growing in the shadows of the higher bushes is also a good sign for orchids.

The boundary between a wet meadow and a bog or fen is slight. Bushes disappear and there is more open space. Sphagnum moss is prevalent with carnivorous plants such as Sundews (Drocera sp.) and Pitcher Plants (Saracenia sp.). Orchids are often growing right at the boundary where the low-bush blueberry and Clethra give way, in the space of a foot, to Sphagnum moss, grass tussocks, and then open water.

I've also seen the bushes give way to a floating bog environment, dotted with floating grass tussocks and cranberries. The orchids here were found either on the edges of very well established large tussocks, or at the edge of the floating bog where there was a slight break in the bushes but more solid ground.

Learning to look at the growing environment as a whole makes it easier to spot the orchids. Many times the orchids are not in bloom and the spot can be noted for future visits at the blooming season. Even if the orchids are in bloom, I have walked by numerous plants of Platanthera lacera without seeing them, only to discover them on my return path!

My particular favorites for books are the following. In some cases, even with the orchid past-bloom I was able to make a positive identification. And then return to the spot the following year to get the perfect photos.

Wild Orchids of the Northeastern United States by Paul Martin Brown, ISBN 0-8014-8341-7 1997, paperback, 236 pp

Orchids of the Northeast by William K. Chapman, ISBN 0-8156-0342-8 1997, paperback, 200 pp

Also, an excellent book about hunting and identifying orchids:

Hidden Orchids by Thomas J Bulat & Marilyn Bulat, ISBN 0-945213-19-0, paperback, 112 pp

I keep a log of what I see and where, with dates. I also note what other plants I see and generally count the number of individual orchids, such as the two clumps of Spiranthes cernua that I found in Pomfret this summer, 89 in one clump and 21 in a second about 100 feet away. In cases where there are many plants in a large area, such as the population of Pink Ladyslippers at People's State Forest, I will make note of the area and approximate density of plants.

37 Species of orchids in Connecticut. I've added 2 to my list of "found" this year, so 24 more to go!