# C. montanum, growing wild



## grady (Apr 15, 2013)

These are pictures of montanum growing wild on our property. They have been here at least since 1999 when my wife first noticed them (I have lived on these 20 acres since 1988).







A photo of the main "patch" (there are 13 of them). Each red flag is a clump of plants:




















New shoots this spring:















In all their glory:




















You can see from the photos that dappled sunlight is the rule here; canopy closure is 50%-60%, with mature Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine. The plants are all volunteers and their origin is unknown. There are 13 clumps of plants , consisting of just over 100 individual plants, separated by up to 500 feet. Winters can be quite cold, zero Fahrenheit and below. Spring and summer are usually dry; our region gets about 16 inches of rain a year. Summer temps top at in the mid 90's in August. All the plants are growing in the forest duff. All of them flower and produce seed pods each year. I transplanted one of the plants to a garden area last summer, where it gets a lot more water; so far this spring, it has shoots coming up.


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## nikv (Apr 15, 2013)

Very nice. Thanks for sharing!


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## mrhappyrotter (Apr 15, 2013)

Really cool. Thank you for the photos.

If I can find time this weekend, I'm going to head over to the spot where I found hundreds or even thousands of cyp. acuale and try to photograph them now that I have a better camera. You've inspired me.


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## SlipperFan (Apr 15, 2013)

:clap:


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## NYEric (Apr 15, 2013)

Thanks for sharing. It must be nice to have a cyp that can grow so dry.


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## The Orchid Boy (Apr 15, 2013)

You are so, so lucky. I contacted Jim (he's on the forum, he commented on the show pictures) and he has a few locations he's going to find native orchids, like Cyp. candidum. I may finally get to see orchids in the wild!

Thanks for sharing with us!


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## JeanLux (Apr 16, 2013)

Lucky you !!!!! Jean


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## Hakone (Apr 16, 2013)

Thanks for sharing .


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## Dido (Apr 16, 2013)

Great pics thanks for sharing


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## monocotman (Apr 16, 2013)

great photos and lucky you with wild cyps growing on your land!
David


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## Heather (Apr 16, 2013)

Excellent! I like that you've tagged them as well. Great way to keep an eye on their progress over the years.


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## Linus_Cello (Apr 16, 2013)

Lucky you! 
Hmm- you may good habitat conditions for Cyp. acule also (acidic pine soil). Was there ever a low intensity fast fire in the underbrush? "Low-K" fertilizers seem all the rage; I wonder if some cyps benefit from extra-potassium when potash is created from fire.


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## biothanasis (Apr 16, 2013)

WOW!! It is wonderful to have such beauties growing naturaly in your property..! :clap:


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## cnycharles (Apr 16, 2013)

very nice


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## grady (Apr 16, 2013)

*Fires in the past*

>>Was there ever a low intensity fast fire in the underbrush? "Low-K" fertilizers seem all the rage; I wonder if some cyps benefit from extra-potassium when potash is created from fire.<<

Linus, there is evidence of fire in the past. Nearly all the old stumps (some 40" across) and snags exhibit evidence of fire. Not just on my property, but on neighboring properties as well. Some trees survived this fire, some did not. Looking at the bark evidence, the fire was over 70 years ago.

I've been thinning the forest for a very long time, keeping in mind the recommendations of a state forester about 25 years ago: 16 feet between trees, and thin in favor of pine, which is more suitable for our low rainfall. About seven years ago I thinned in the area of the major "patch" of cyps (the long-view shot in the photos, and this was before I gave them any thought), disrupting the duff and partially opening the canopy. All the slash from the thinning was burned where it was thinned, with the ash being spread around after the fire. I've done this countless times over the years, leaving a park-like environment and a dose of ash nearly everywhere. It's a surprise that my thoughtlessness in regards to the cyps didn't seem to affect them, for this patch is still vigorous. Now, of course, I'm highly mindful of where they are; each clump has a red flag to denote its location. The flag has the year of observation and how many plants were observed, how many flowers and time of flowering, how many seed pods. I'm getting to the record-keeping very late, but it will be useful to see if the number of plants increase or decrease. What is most interesting are the outliers; other patches are over 500 feet away, one of them just a small clump with 19 plants in it. The cyps have become like the morel mushrooms here: a delight just to find them, a continuing delight to just enjoy them.

In this photo of our front yard, the main cyp patch is straight ahead and to the right of the rock pile that's visible in the distance:


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## Linus_Cello (Apr 16, 2013)

grady said:


> >>Was there ever a low intensity fast fire in the underbrush? "Low-K" fertilizers seem all the rage; I wonder if some cyps benefit from extra-potassium when potash is created from fire.<<
> 
> Linus, there is evidence of fire in the past. Nearly all the old stumps (some 40" across) and snags exhibit evidence of fire. Not just on my property, but on neighboring properties as well. Some trees survived this fire, some did not. Looking at the bark evidence, the fire was over 70 years ago.



I think an intense fire 70+ years ago would suggest "disturbance" (and sunlight) was a greater factor for cyps occurring then a flush of potash/potassium in to the habitat.


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## Ozpaph (Apr 17, 2013)

you're doing an awesome job!


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## The Orchid Boy (Apr 19, 2013)

Just wondering, what zone are you in?


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## grady (Apr 20, 2013)

*Climate zone*

Hi Orchid Boy,

I'm not sure what zone we're in because of the lack of standardization of zones. My wife says 5. For December, our coldest month, average low is 24, average high is 38. July & August are tied for the same average high: 83, while the average low is 54 and 53, respectively. Average rainfall is 11.42 inches. Record low is -16, record high is 106.

I hope this is helpful.


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## Rick (Apr 20, 2013)

Very Cool!!

Have you seen the pollinators in action?

I suspect it should be some type of native bee for these.


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## The Orchid Boy (Apr 20, 2013)

grady said:


> Hi Orchid Boy,
> 
> I'm not sure what zone we're in because of the lack of standardization of zones. My wife says 5. For December, our coldest month, average low is 24, average high is 38. July & August are tied for the same average high: 83, while the average low is 54 and 53, respectively. Average rainfall is 11.42 inches. Record low is -16, record high is 106.
> 
> I hope this is helpful.



Interesting. I always thought montanum was only in zones 3, 4 or colder. Your zone sounds very, very similar to mine. I think we're in zone 5a. We have an annual rainfall of about 28 inches.


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## Justin (Apr 20, 2013)

nice cyps and beautiful property.


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## grady (Apr 20, 2013)

Yes, Rick, I have seen pollinators. They are small bees that crawl down into the slipper. Somehow, they get the job done.


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## Rick (Apr 21, 2013)

grady said:


> Yes, Rick, I have seen pollinators. They are small bees that crawl down into the slipper. Somehow, they get the job done.



Are they blue/shiny euglosine bees?


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## grady (Apr 21, 2013)

Rick said:


> Are they blue/shiny euglosine bees?



I don't know, I didn't look closely at the bees. I'll be watching closely this year and will try to identify the bees.


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