# native orchids in adirondacks



## cnycharles (May 15, 2011)

I went north late after work a few days ago to see at what stage the yellow ladyslippers and large padleaf orchids were at, including the pink ladyslippers. I was surprised to not see what I thought were pink ladyslippers as they are usually flowering in two weeks. The yellow ladyslippers in a fen not far north of here were at the stage I figured they would be. I figure they will start flowering at the usual time, though I think some will be later.






yellow ladyslippers furthest along





smaller, later plants





the large padleaf orchids have very large leaves which unfurl like skunk cabbages, and emerge at the same time. you can tell very early if a padleaf is going to flower because the flower stem will be formed and emerge at the same time as the leaves open (though it takes a few months for the stem to grow and the flowers to open)




















a nice cluster of red trillium along the forest road up to the padleaf orchids (I had to walk up the hill as the last rain had washed out the road). there were quite a few things in flower at the first fen and up to the padleaf orchids





painted trillium at first fen, quite a few of these open there


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## Shiva (May 15, 2011)

In the mean time, before they flowers, nice trilliums and a great walk in the woods.


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## Marc (May 15, 2011)

I really like the red trilliums, can we expect an update in the coming weeks?


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## cnycharles (May 15, 2011)

thanks! there were quite a few more flowers, but I didn't edit all and it was quite a walk uphill on a washed-out sort-of road  . was nice to be outside seeing things that weren't in the inside of a commercial greenhouse (far away from work).

yes, there will be updates! there were lots of the red trilliums along this road; there are spots around this general area where there are carpets of white trilliums that can be seen from along the new york state thruway, and along the old erie canal trail there are spots with tons of the red ones.


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## W. Beetus (May 15, 2011)

Beautiful trilliums!


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## NYEric (May 15, 2011)

Thanx for sharing.


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## Dido (May 16, 2011)

Nice pict thanks for share. 
Waiting for the update. 
On the first pict, is that the fungus who belongs to the slippers you see byside??

Do you have Arientum growing in your area and maybe have a little pollen for me to spare.


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## JeanLux (May 16, 2011)

Good place Charles!!!! Keep the pics coming  !!! Jean


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## etex (May 16, 2011)

Awesome walk in the woods- thanks for showing us a peak!! Can't wait to see more!


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## NYEric (May 16, 2011)

Dido said:


> Nice pict thanks for share.
> Do you have Arientum growing in your area and maybe have a little pollen for me to spare.



I think they grow further West. Minnesota, etc.


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## Dido (May 16, 2011)

NYEric said:


> I think they grow further West. Minnesota, etc.



I was told that they grow in ontario so it is close I was thinking. :evil:

Oh well still searching for that pollen. Like to try it for Hybrids. And I would like to store it, because plectrochilum is a realy arly bloomer here.


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## NYEric (May 16, 2011)

I plan on a trip up there (CNY) in a few weeks; if they're there we'll get you some!


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## Dido (May 16, 2011)

NYEric said:


> I plan on a trip up there (CNY) in a few weeks; if they're there we'll get you some!



This would be absolute great.


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## yijiawang (May 16, 2011)

Thank you for the pictures, good photo!


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## cnycharles (May 16, 2011)

ram's head orchids and pollen is endangered and protected, so none could be available

just to try and explain, I think that people who are trying to conserve cypripedium arietinum have to jump through hoops just to send pollen, plants or such between states in the u.s. because of its endangered status. I think a few vendors have tried to grow it, but not completely successfully as I haven't seen it offered for sale. it isn't very common in new york state and the only places I've seen it were on protected land, never on someone's property. if you were looking for cyp acaule pubescens or other common cyp species there wouldn't be a problem, but I would never want to take a chance with something as rare as ram's head; besided the legal issues I would rather try and pollinate flowers I see and spread the seed around an extant site (which is also illegal I think unless you own the land or found a place to purchase a plant and have successfully flowered it) to get more of it to grow. I think like eric says, places like minnesota and nearby canada have many more of them, but they still are not common even in that area


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## cnycharles (May 17, 2011)

*the rest of the adirondack flower/plant pics*

there were lots of flowers, ferns and other things around the fen where the yellow ladyslippers were and the mossy wetland up in the adirondacks. here are a few more of the pictures I took but all were taken quickly as I was on the move (not much time available anymore outside of work (sigh))

some of these are common, but if you know what some of these are (besides the red trillium) please chime in and let us know what they are





i'm not sure what these next two pictures are of, except maybe some sort of horsetail or relative?










a fern, but does anyone know which kind?





red trillium, i've heard that they aren't nice smelling though I've never checked them out





colony of white flowering shrubs; I might have a close-up pic later here





I think these are called toad lily. they are closed because of the cloudy weather and being early evening





a friend took pics of these last year, but could not identify them. anyone?





are these emerging pink ladyslippers? the buds and leaves seemed quite smooth to me, but maybe they get fuzzier after emerging a bit. I was surprised to not see obvious pink ladyslippers around when I stopped by as they usually are in flower before memorial day, but things may be a bit delayed this year





this is a small shot of the mossy wetland where the padleaf orchids and others grow up north. in a few week, the pink ladyslippers will be open and soon after a nice colony of early coralroot will emerge and flower  . only problem is that by the time that these flowers emerge, so will the local population of mosquitos!


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## NYEric (May 17, 2011)

Your mosquitoes are big, slow, and loud = easy to kill. I didn't have much problem last time I was up there. NYC mosquitoes are totally nasty and invisible!


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## cnycharles (May 17, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Your mosquitoes are big, slow, and loud = easy to kill. I didn't have much problem last time I was up there. NYC mosquitoes are totally nasty and invisible!



:rollhappy: where exactly have you been up here? if you're talking about the few ones that gently fly around labrador hollow, then you're in for a real treat if you come up into the adirondacks.... your arms might be flapping so wildly to try and kill them all, that the air movement might lift you up off of the ground!  the same thing happens to me as well, especially up on the tug hill

i'm sure the mosquitos that fly in from the marshes of new jersey and surrounding area probably are a pain... probably lots of immigrant blood in them! (meaning bugs from the tropics)


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## NYEric (May 17, 2011)

You may be right! My biggest wonder is how the NYC micro-mosquitoes find me inside, on the 20th floor!


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## cnycharles (May 17, 2011)

maybe all of the water vapor leaving your apartment, with all of the interesting plant smells pulls them in. they might be looking for some moist foliage to hide under, but find a nice bonus instead  .. but of course that is pretty high up!


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## NYEric (May 17, 2011)

Or just my sugar sweetened blood!


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 18, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> ram's head orchids and pollen is endangered and protected, so none could be available
> 
> just to try and explain, I think that people who are trying to conserve cypripedium arietinum have to jump through hoops just to send pollen, plants or such between states in the u.s. because of its endangered status. I think a few vendors have tried to grow it, but not completely successfully as I haven't seen it offered for sale. it isn't very common in new york state and the only places I've seen it were on protected land, never on someone's property. if you were looking for cyp acaule pubescens or other common cyp species there wouldn't be a problem, but I would never want to take a chance with something as rare as ram's head; besided the legal issues I would rather try and pollinate flowers I see and spread the seed around an extant site (which is also illegal I think unless you own the land or found a place to purchase a plant and have successfully flowered it) to get more of it to grow. I think like eric says, places like minnesota and nearby canada have many more of them, but they still are not common even in that area



Definitely much more rare in the northeast than in the Great Lakes States, especially around Lake Superior. Bill Steele used to sell seedlings years back, but was told to desist, if memory serves. Yet another great example of how "orchid conservation" in fact stifles plant protection. I wouldn't recommend this one for general culture though since it seems quite prone to all manner of problems and doesn't withstand high temperatures (not more than ~25 C for sure, lower is better though). If you live in a USDA zone 4 or lower it might be worth trying if you construct a deep sandy bed moderately acidic in reaction. Otherwise, you'll probably not succeed. BTW, I've heard the Isle Royale National Park is brimming with them. That's good to know 

Thanks Charles for your great photos and text. They make me homesick for my home state!


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## cnycharles (May 21, 2011)

*flower update!*

I decided to avoid spraying at work tonight and dodge the slow-moving thunderstorms and try to check out how the yellow ladyslippers were doing up at remsen bog... my old, trusty golf/orchid hunting umbrella is giving up the ghost and there was some scattered lightning nearby, so I wasn't too keen on hanging around very long, but quickly saw that half of the orchids were already flowering! I thought I would be only be taking a progression photo, but the yellows always surprise me on how fast they can flower. All the rain we have been having has probably helped them along as well. Nearby Rome, NY has had flooding from downpours two days in a row and luckily the storm was two miles west of where I was though it was lightly raining. I didn't have my tripod so the pics are a little grainy and I used flash for most of them






yellow ladyslippers aka cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens















a shy bloomer










this was my attempt to catch a speeding red eft salamander on film... (okay, so I accidentally tripped the shutter while trying to get a light reading  )

I would think that anyone that wanted to see the yellow ladyslippers at labrador hollow would be able to anytime in the next week. I don't have a visual myself from there, but with this rain, if some are open here at higher altitude then they would be at labrador hollow (or at least very soon)


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## NYEric (May 21, 2011)

Er.. no photos!


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## cnycharles (May 21, 2011)

pics are up!


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 21, 2011)

Looks wet and cool there. What a "spring" you all have been getting up there in the Northeast


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## NYEric (May 23, 2011)

The weather is warming up but its still very cool at night!


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## Kevin (May 23, 2011)

I'll try:


cnycharles said:


> some of these are common, but if you know what some of these are (besides the red trillium) please chime in and let us know what they are
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 23, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> a friend took pics of these last year, but could not identify them. anyone?



Looks like hobblebush to me, Viburnum lantanoides.


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## Marc (May 23, 2011)

Thanks for these pictures, seeing cyp's in the wild is on my to do list for someday in the future. These pictures only add to the desire to fullfill that wish one day.



cnycharles said:


> i'm not sure what these next two pictures are of, except maybe some sort of horsetail or relative?



This looks like a form of horsetail to me, I have a Equisetum japonicum in the garden and this spring it was dug out and placed in a bucket without any drainage holes. This stupid plant produces runners about 30cm's under the surface. These runners then produce new growths every 15-30 cm's which work their way up through the soil. Since I dug out this plant I'm still working on getting the leftovers out of the shadow section of the garden.

Tip of the day. Don't plant this in your garden!


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## likespaphs (May 23, 2011)

*Erythronium americanum* or Toad Lily.

trout lilies!
toad lilies are Tricyrtis and i'm pretty sure there are no native U.S. species


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## Kevin (May 23, 2011)

Oh yeah, wrong common name. Changed it in that post. Latin is the way to go!


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