Malaxis species

Seen on a side field trip after the Native Orchid Conference symposium.

Seen on a side field trip after the Native Orchid Conference symposium.

Native Orchid Conference field trip in Pennsylvania.

Native Orchid Conference field trip in Pennsylvania.

My friend, Neil Jacobs, had found a few of these at this site earlier this month, and they were in perfect bloom. Today, this is all that remained of the flowers for this season... We are spending the weekend along the Atlantic Coastal Plain. This is a great time for fall wildflowers, including native orchids. Our first stop was the Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston, South Carolina.

After we left the Mt. Mitchell area, we drove north on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a couple of hours. We finally arrived at an overlook where our friends Neil and Jen had seen the Green adder's-mouth orchids in bloom. With excellent directions, we found them in no time at all. There were several plants in full bloom, which gave each one of us (Walter, Alan, and me) opportunity to photograph our "own" plant for a while. When we finished at that site, we drove farther north and found another pull off where Neil and Jen had found some Green fringed orcids. Again, their directions were spot on! It was getting late, but we continued to photograph these wonderful orchids. I took my last shot around 9:00 pm! Then we prepared for our 3-hour drive home. What a good day with great friends...

After we left the Mt. Mitchell area, we drove north on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a couple of hours. We finally arrived at an overlook where our friends Neil and Jen had seen the Green adder's-mouth orchids in bloom. With excellent directions, we found them in no time at all. There were several plants in full bloom, which gave each one of us (Walter, Alan, and me) opportunity to photograph our "own" plant for a while. When we finished at that site, we drove farther north and found another pull off where Neil and Jen had found some Green fringed orcids. Again, their directions were spot on! It was getting late, but we continued to photograph these wonderful orchids. I took my last shot around 9:00 pm! Then we prepared for our 3-hour drive home. What a good day with great friends...

After we left the Mt. Mitchell area, we drove north on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a couple of hours. We finally arrived at an overlook where our friends Neil and Jen had seen the Green adder's-mouth orchids in bloom. With excellent directions, we found them in no time at all. There were several plants in full bloom, which gave each one of us (Walter, Alan, and me) opportunity to photograph our "own" plant for a while. When we finished at that site, we drove farther north and found another pull off where Neil and Jen had found some Green fringed orcids. Again, their directions were spot on! It was getting late, but we continued to photograph these wonderful orchids. I took my last shot around 9:00 pm! Then we prepared for our 3-hour drive home. What a good day with great friends...

More orchids from our weekend trip to the Francis Marion National Forest. Finding some of these in bloom was a surprise, since I didn't think they would be in bloom yet. A couple of these were new finds for some of the out of towners in the group. I'm really pleased that I could take them to a place with such a variety of wild orchids... The flowers on this plant are less than 1/8" (~2-3mm) wide -- very tiny and very hard to see against the leaves on the forest floor.

More orchids from our weekend trip to the Francis Marion National Forest. Finding some of these in bloom was a surprise, since I didn't think they would be in bloom yet. A couple of these were new finds for some of the out of towners in the group. I'm really pleased that I could take them to a place with such a variety of wild orchids... The flowers on this plant are less than 1/8" (~2-3mm) wide -- very tiny and very hard to see against the leaves on the forest floor.

This orchid species has the smallest flowers of any of our native orchids, measuring about 2mm wide. My flickr friend Keith Bradley told me that he had a lead on a site for Malaxis unifolia in the Congaree National Park and wondered if I'd be interested in seeing it. What!?! You have to ask? ;-) Anyway, I met him down there (near Hopkins, SC) about 10:00 am, dodging rain showers all the way down. Fortunately, it didn't even sprinkle on us for the two hours we were there. What a great time and place to photograph this seldom seen orchid...

This orchid species has the smallest flowers of any of our native orchids, measuring about 2mm wide. My flickr friend Keith Bradley told me that he had a lead on a site for Malaxis unifolia in the Congaree National Park and wondered if I'd be interested in seeing it. What!?! You have to ask? ;-) Anyway, I met him down there (near Hopkins, SC) about 10:00 am, dodging rain showers all the way down. Fortunately, it didn't even sprinkle on us for the two hours we were there. What a great time and place to photograph this seldom seen orchid...

This orchid species has the smallest flowers of any of our native orchids, measuring about 2mm wide. My flickr friend Keith Bradley told me that he had a lead on a site for Malaxis unifolia in the Congaree National Park and wondered if I'd be interested in seeing it. What!?! You have to ask? ;-) Anyway, I met him down there (near Hopkins, SC) about 10:00 am, dodging rain showers all the way down. Fortunately, it didn't even sprinkle on us for the two hours we were there. What a great time and place to photograph this seldom seen orchid...

This orchid species has the smallest flowers of any of our native orchids, measuring about 2mm wide. My flickr friend Keith Bradley told me that he had a lead on a site for Malaxis unifolia in the Congaree National Park and wondered if I'd be interested in seeing it. What!?! You have to ask? ;-) Anyway, I met him down there (near Hopkins, SC) about 10:00 am, dodging rain showers all the way down. Fortunately, it didn't even sprinkle on us for the two hours we were there. What a great time and place to photograph this seldom seen orchid...

This orchid species has the smallest flowers of any of our native orchids, measuring about 2mm wide. My flickr friend Keith Bradley told me that he had a lead on a site for Malaxis unifolia in the Congaree National Park and wondered if I'd be interested in seeing it. What!?! You have to ask? ;-) Anyway, I met him down there (near Hopkins, SC) about 10:00 am, dodging rain showers all the way down. Fortunately, it didn't even sprinkle on us for the two hours we were there. What a great time and place to photograph this seldom seen orchid...

This orchid species has the smallest flowers of any of our native orchids, measuring about 2mm wide. My flickr friend Keith Bradley told me that he had a lead on a site for Malaxis unifolia in the Congaree National Park and wondered if I'd be interested in seeing it. What!?! You have to ask? ;-) Anyway, I met him down there (near Hopkins, SC) about 10:00 am, dodging rain showers all the way down. Fortunately, it didn't even sprinkle on us for the two hours we were there. What a great time and place to photograph this seldom seen orchid...

This orchid species has the smallest flowers of any of our native orchids, measuring about 2mm wide. My flickr friend Keith Bradley told me that he had a lead on a site for Malaxis unifolia in the Congaree National Park and wondered if I'd be interested in seeing it. What!?! You have to ask? ;-) Anyway, I met him down there (near Hopkins, SC) about 10:00 am, dodging rain showers all the way down. Fortunately, it didn't even sprinkle on us for the two hours we were there. What a great time and place to photograph this seldom seen orchid...

This orchid species has the smallest flowers of any of our native orchids, measuring about 2mm wide. My flickr friend Keith Bradley told me that he had a lead on a site for Malaxis unifolia in the Congaree National Park and wondered if I'd be interested in seeing it. What!?! You have to ask? ;-) Anyway, I met him down there (near Hopkins, SC) about 10:00 am, dodging rain showers all the way down. Fortunately, it didn't even sprinkle on us for the two hours we were there. What a great time and place to photograph this seldom seen orchid...