Platanthera psycodes (Small Purple Fringed orchid)

This day represents perhaps the most frustrating day of our orchid hunt in Newfoundland. First, because of witnessing the deliberate cutting of hay in a field protected by The Nature Conservancy of Canada; thus cutting thousands of fringed orchids in their prime, and second, not being sure of exactly which species we were seeing at the time. Most of the plants we were photographing were probably hybrids of either Platanthera psycodes or Platanthera grandiflora with Platanthera lacera. In a very few cases, it was rather "obvious" that we were seeing the pure species, but in most cases, we just could not be sure...

In any case, we had a glorious day photographing these beauties. Except for the days when we saw fields full of Arethusa bulbosa by the tens of thousands, we saw more orchids in bloom at these few sites than any other day on our trip...

To read more about our adventure with "tractor man" and to see additional images, please visit Jim's Blog...