I had last monday off from work again, and ken hull, bard prentiss and I went to a tall hilltop in cortland county to see spiranthes case. afterwards we went to a spot near Bard's backyard in dryden, ny to see if there were any spiranthes romanzoffiana orchids still in flower. they're usually in flower late july, and bard had told us that there were a few hundred very nice flowering plants on land behind his house and the dryden fire department. I'd never seen more than a dozen or so in any one area so was interested in seeing them. romanzoffiana is fairly distinctive when compared to other spiranthes. most of the spiranthes were already out of flower, but a few late ones were still in flower. it was a fairly hot day, and as usual the humidity was very high in the fen. it was a very interesting place, full of interesting plants that like growing in calcareous conditions (they like calcium) along with some very colorful dragonflies zipping around. I spent the better part of 15 minutes just standing in the middle of the area where this huge, blue-striped dragonfly was spending most of it's time cruising for dinner, in the hopes that I could get some close-up pictures of it
spiranthes romanzoffiana (orchid)
extreme closeup
a super-tall specimen about 135cm tall!
yellow flower, blue vervain, queen-anne's lace, teasel
close-up of teasel (first time i've seen it in flower, usually just see the shells/stems along the highway)
these are cousins to the teasels found in great britain; I believe those have hooks on the ends of the spikes and were used to card or comb cotton or wool when making fabric. not sure if these were used, or were hybridized with the others at some time.. interesting pre-industrial use of plants in mass clothing production
bull thistle
horsetails, a fen indicator; usually they grow around the margins of a calcareous area. certain ones were used in the old days to scrub pots because they have so much silica in their stems (I think one of the common names is 'scouring rush'). i've been told that this variety is Sterile Horsetail
close-up of horsetail
blue vervain
this is the first wave, more pics will be in a following reply
spiranthes romanzoffiana (orchid)
extreme closeup
a super-tall specimen about 135cm tall!
yellow flower, blue vervain, queen-anne's lace, teasel
close-up of teasel (first time i've seen it in flower, usually just see the shells/stems along the highway)
these are cousins to the teasels found in great britain; I believe those have hooks on the ends of the spikes and were used to card or comb cotton or wool when making fabric. not sure if these were used, or were hybridized with the others at some time.. interesting pre-industrial use of plants in mass clothing production
bull thistle
horsetails, a fen indicator; usually they grow around the margins of a calcareous area. certain ones were used in the old days to scrub pots because they have so much silica in their stems (I think one of the common names is 'scouring rush'). i've been told that this variety is Sterile Horsetail
close-up of horsetail
blue vervain
this is the first wave, more pics will be in a following reply
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