If I hadn't wanted to take a break in the shade while hiking back up the mountain, I doubt we would have spotted this diminutive 8 inch tall orchid. This was the only individual we found during our entire camping trip, even though it's the time of year for other rein orchids to start blooming. While looking at other Piperia for this ID, I realized I may have made a couple errors in past posts and am waiting to hear back from an expert. The face and long spur look somewhat similar to elegant rein orchid (P. elegans) or dense flowered rein orchid (P. elongata) to me, but the spur is definitely transverse/flat/perpendicular to the axis of the stem versus pointing downward.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
royal rein orchid ~ 07/19/12 ~ Mt. Madonna
If I hadn't wanted to take a break in the shade while hiking back up the mountain, I doubt we would have spotted this diminutive 8 inch tall orchid. This was the only individual we found during our entire camping trip, even though it's the time of year for other rein orchids to start blooming. While looking at other Piperia for this ID, I realized I may have made a couple errors in past posts and am waiting to hear back from an expert. The face and long spur look somewhat similar to elegant rein orchid (P. elegans) or dense flowered rein orchid (P. elongata) to me, but the spur is definitely transverse/flat/perpendicular to the axis of the stem versus pointing downward.
5 comments:
Whilst viewing the enlarged image of this orchid, Our Lass walked behind me, paused and exclaimed, "Ah, biddy wee!"
This roughly translates as "Oh, cute and small!"
I assume she was referring to the orchid, but can't be sure.
That is an excellent find, by the way. Congratulations!
Nothing resembling your latest orchid find over here in U.K.
That's definitely transversa Katie. The sparseness of the flowers is a tell, too. Nice find - there's not many out this year.
Paying close attention can have sweet rewards!
Very unusual I'd say. I do love wildflower and especially native orchids... :)
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