# corallorhiza striata and more from nelson swamp



## cnycharles (Jun 1, 2009)

today I had planned on visiting the upper hudson river area with my mother and stepfather who were visiting from new mexico. their plans changed a little so I decided to check out a place I've been before called nelson swamp state unique area. I had found striped coralroot a handful of years ago, and the recent weather (rainy and cool) was similar to that year, so I'd had a feeling that I should check things out this year. striped coralroot at nelson swamp doesn't come up in the same area from year to year, so many people end up searching a very large area in hopes of finding some. it's the only known location for it in new york state, though there had been a few others before the cedar swamps had been logged. so, it's virtually one of the rarest plants/orchids in new york since it isn't even visible every year or even most of the time. I parked at the one spot near one of the park boundaries, and set out to find some western spotted coralroot which often grows along the western side in black, mucky areas. I found some nodding trillium and lots of ferns right away, and a few other interesting things. after wandering for about 20 minutes I saw a patch of green jack-in-the-pulpits and headed for them to get a pic, and looking down I saw three striped coralroot growing right next to each other! I was quite surprised since they most often had been found over along the eastern boundary, and this was the zone where the other coralroots had been found before. plus, how lucky can you be, wandering for a swamp for less than half an hour and finding one of the rarest plants? I truly think angels guided me these plants and the one I found a few years ago during a foggy, rainy day. both times I walked right up to the plants and almost stepped on them. if anyone has ever walked through (or tried to) a cedar swamp before, finding anything or even walking in a straight line is an extreme accomplishment. after hanging my sweatshirt and camera bag on some limbs near the plants, I headed back to my car to get some materials to mark the area. on return I ended up finding one more plant within ten yards of the three. in the other direction I also found a nice yellow ladyslipper and found a few others in different parts of the swamp. to top it off, the black spruce smell absolutely wonderful!




































shot showing the stem bracts (no green leaves for this and many corallorhiza)






all of these pics were taken by hand without a tripod and was quite breezy; will head back tomorrow after work with tripod to try and get some really nice closeups


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## JeanLux (Jun 1, 2009)

super cool plants Charles!!! and you have put a last monster-pict! Jean


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## cnycharles (Jun 1, 2009)

some things commonly seen in nelson swamp -





fallen trees





mud





yellow ladyslipper near the striped coralroot










nice clump of yellows along the eastern boundary of the unique area










a dwarf grasshopper nymph that was either hitching a ride or soaking up some heat (it was pretty chilly)





the jack in the pulpits that caught my eye and lead me towards the striped 
coralroot





some nice nodding trillium













JeanLux said:


> super cool plants Charles!!! and you have put a last monster-pict! Jean



yes, I forgot to format the last one for size; I'm uploading a smaller one in it's place


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## biothanasis (Jun 1, 2009)

Those pictures are amazing Charles!!! Superb plants, too!! TY very much for sharing!


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jun 1, 2009)

Nice find Charles. It is really cool that you found this population of eastern plants - a rare thing indeed. I've only seen this species out west, and like the fabled eastern Calypso populations, this one eluded me. Have you seen any Goodyera oblongifolia in NY state?


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## ORG (Jun 1, 2009)

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Best greetings 

Olaf


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## P-chan (Jun 1, 2009)

Beautiful...Wonderful find!


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## Clark (Jun 1, 2009)

Great photos Charles!


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## goldenrose (Jun 1, 2009)

:clap: Sounds like fun! :clap:


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## likespaphs (Jun 1, 2009)

super groovy!
thanks!


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## NYEric (Jun 1, 2009)

Excellent! Maybe I can come upstate again and we can go looking for more orchids!


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## SlipperFan (Jun 1, 2009)

I admire anyone who wanders about in a swamp. Were the mosquitoes bad? The photos are excellent.


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## cnycharles (Jun 1, 2009)

a few more closeups taken using my tripod


















KyushuCalanthe said:


> Nice find Charles. It is really cool that you found this population of eastern plants - a rare thing indeed. I've only seen this species out west, and like the fabled eastern Calypso populations, this one eluded me. Have you seen any Goodyera oblongifolia in NY state?



I haven't seen oblongifolia and books I've read said that it isn't in the state, usually being further north. Dot, being a calcareous alkaline swamp, there were very few mosquitos


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## cnycharles (Jun 2, 2009)

NYEric said:


> Excellent! Maybe I can come upstate again and we can go looking for more orchids!



well, there are lots of orchids here. showy ladyslippers are usually around father's day or slightly later. after that there aren't any more slipper orchids but lots of others


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## Clark (Jun 2, 2009)

tripod photos look like they belong in a magazine.


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## biothanasis (Jun 2, 2009)

Congrats!!!!:clap:


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## SlipperFan (Jun 2, 2009)

cnycharles said:


> ... Dot, being a calcareous alkaline swamp, there were very few mosquitos


That's interesting -- I didn't know that mosquitoes don't like that kind of environment.


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## Wendy (Jun 2, 2009)

Nice photos! I go to the Bruce Peninsula next week to photograph the native orchids there. I hope to find the Calypsos again this year as well as the Ram's Head. They were plentiful last year so hopefully there will be a few this year as well.


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## cnycharles (Jun 2, 2009)

Wendy said:


> Nice photos! I go to the Bruce Peninsula next week to photograph the native orchids there. I hope to find the Calypsos again this year ......



(..envy.....)


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## Kevin (Jun 3, 2009)

SlipperFan said:


> That's interesting -- I didn't know that mosquitoes don't like that kind of environment.



I didn't either. I have yet to find an orchid habitat without mosquitoes. We have calcareous fens here and there are lots of mosquitoes. Maybe it's just the location and not the habitat.


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## SlipperFan (Jun 4, 2009)

Kevin said:


> I didn't either. I have yet to find an orchid habitat without mosquitoes. We have calcareous fens here and there are lots of mosquitoes. Maybe it's just the location and not the habitat.



:wink: Maybe NY is too far south for mosquitoes.


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## cnycharles (Jun 4, 2009)

SlipperFan said:


> :wink: Maybe NY is too far south for mosquitoes.



hah! I can safely verify that that is definitely not the case! whatever it is, at least in ny the fen environment usually has extremely few mosquitos. wherever I've seen showy ladyslippers, or cedar fens that have yellows and other things though you might see a mosquito there are darned few of them. same goes for true bog settings where there might be a handful of fairly tame mosquitos but they aren't that bad. on the other hand, acidic hickory/red maple types of swamps plus plain old standard wetland swamps here tend to have tons of very hostile mosquitos. cicero swamp east of syracuse is an acidic hick/red swamp and there are bomber bugs that carry equine encephalitis. I would like to know what the component is that deters them, maybe it would make a good natural repellent! 
... I'm remembering that the parkers/tug hill fen area does have lots of mosquitos and deerflies, but that fen is surrounded by acidic wetland. so, not always the case. ... again on the other hand, I've been to a patterned fen in southeastern ontario, quite large and there were very few mosquitos or things like that there. there were also lots of other wetlands around that area but few biting bugs


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## Kevin (Jun 4, 2009)

Very interesting. In Manitoba, wet = mosquitoes. Doesn't matter what the habitat is. Don't forget about West Nile too!


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## cnycharles (Jun 4, 2009)

Kevin said:


> Very interesting. In Manitoba, wet = mosquitoes. Doesn't matter what the habitat is. Don't forget about West Nile too!



life is too short to worry about all the diseases you could get from flying and jumping bugs... not that that means I want a single one of them biting me :fight: I'm glad that some of our local mosquitos are wimpy enough that something keeps them away!


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## musiclovertony (Dec 22, 2009)

You definitely post some of (if not definitely) my favorite in situ native orchid photos!  keep 'em coming


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## NYEric (Dec 22, 2009)

Where are you located? Maybe you can come w/ us next year on wild orchid hunts. Hopefully I will have some in NYC!


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## musiclovertony (Dec 24, 2009)

NYEric said:


> Where are you located? Maybe you can come w/ us next year on wild orchid hunts. Hopefully I will have some in NYC!



that would be wonderful! Only problem is that I am half a country away in Minnesota  Thankfully we have many of the same native orchids, here  If you're ever out this way, drop me a private message oke: and I shall do the same with regards to NY!


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## NYEric (Dec 24, 2009)

Next time I'm in Minn. then!


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