Orchid Power - Yellow Fringed Orchid

Orchid Power
Yellow Fringed Orchid

Description
General: Orchid Family (Orchidaceae). This plant is a native, perennial herb. The upright stems will grow 30 cm to 1m tall. The roots are tuberous or fleshy. The plant has numerous lance-shaped leaves. Blooming time is variable, but usually from late June in the North to late September in the South.

Habitat: The plants are native to sphagnum and sedge bogs, swamps, marshes, wet sandy barrens, thickets on borders of streams and ponds, moist woods, wet meadows, prairies, and in deep humus of upland forests in the Eastern United States and Canada.

Establishment
Yellow-fringed orchids are attractive and easier to grow than most fringed orchids. They do well in either partial shade or full sun. The plants grow in slightly acid soils with a pH from 5 to 6.

Uses
Ethnobotanic: The Cherokee and Seminoles as well as other Native American tribes in the Eastern United States used the yellow-fringed orchid for medicinal and other purposes. The roots were used to make infusions to treat diarrhea. The roots were also used to treat snakebites. A cold infusion of the root was taken to relieve headaches. A piece of the root was used on fishhooks to make the fish bite better. In Florida, it was known as rattle snake's master and was used both internally and externally to treat snakebite.

Status
This plant may be listed as threatened in your state. This rare plant is threatened by loss of habitat, harvesting, and changes in land management practices, such as fire suppression, in much of its native range. It is listed as threatened by many states and is probably locally extinct in Canada.

Orchid Power - Western Prairie Fringed Orchid

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Western Prairie Fringed Orchid

Western prairie fringed orchid grows in tallgrass prairies and meadows. It is threatened primarily by wetland draining and the conversion of rich soil prairies to agricultural cropland. Overgrazing, improper use of pesticides, and collecting also threatens its survival in Missouri. Western prairie fringed orchid is listed ENDANGERED by the Missouri Department of Conservation and THREATENED by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Identification
Western prairie fringed orchid is a stout, erect plant standing 1 to 4 feet tall. It has 2 to 5 elongated leaves along its angular stem. This perennial orchid blooms from late June to July and bears seed from July to September. Its flowers are creamy to greenish white. Each flower has a hood-shaped petal with three deeply fringed lobes and a long nectar spur in back. The blossoms occur in showy clusters at the top of each plant. The flowers are fragrant at night to attract moths, which are the only known pollinators. The orchid may remain dormant in the soil during drought periods.

Two other white fringed orchids may be found in Missouri. The eastern prairie fringed orchid is very similar to the western, and at one time they were considered a single species. The eastern prairie fringed orchid has rounded stems and smaller flowers than the western species. It is also a federally threatened species. Another similar species is ragged orchid, which is smaller, has greener flowers, a narrower flower spike, and a shorter nectar spur.

Habitat and Distribution
Western prairie fringed orchid is native to tallgrass prairies, sedge meadows, wet uplands, and river bottom prairies and meadows. In Missouri, populations of western prairie fringed orchid occur in rich, deep-soil upland prairies. Outside Missouri, it has been found in pastures, ditches, and cultivated fields and seems to tolerate some disturbance.

The western prairie fringed orchid was historically located in the western region of the state along several of Missouri's rivers. Populations were observed in western portions of the Ozark region, in the Osage Plains region, and along the northwestern portion of the Missouri River. Presently, this orchid has only been recorded from Atchinson, Holt, and Harrison counties.

Cause of Historic Decline
Historical reasons for declines in populations of western prairie fringed orchid are the direct result of loss of prairie habitat. At the time of European settlement, there were around 18 million acres of tallgrass prairie in the Midwest. Less than 1 percent remains today. As prairies were converted to cropland, the amount of suitable orchid habitat dwindled. Western prairie fringed orchid depends on open, sunny, prairie habitat. Its continued survival is dependent on good prairie management. Landowners can take an active role in protecting and managing prairie habitat.

Orchid Power - Navasota ladies'-tresses

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Navasota ladies’-tresses (Spiranthes parksii) was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in May 1982, and listed as endangered by the State of Texas soon afterwards. At the time of listing, only two populations were known, both in Brazos County.

This member of the orchid family is an erect, slender-stemmed perennial herb, 8-15 inches tall. The roots are clusters of fleshy tubers. Leaves are linear and found primarily at ground level, butare usually gone by flowering time. Flowers are creamy white and arranged in a loose spiral upthe stem. Conspicuously white-tipped bracts occur underneath each 1/4 inch-long flower. Flowerpetals are round or oval. The side petals have a green central stripe, and the lip (bottom petal) isdistinctly ragged.

Navasota ladies’-tresses occurs primarily in seasonally moist soils along open wooded margins of creeks and drainages of the Brazos, Navasota, and Neches Rivers. It grows in association with vegetation such as post oak, blackjack oak, yaupon, American beautyberry, and littlebluestem. Largest populations occur in the upper reaches of drainages in areas of natural erosion. These areas are generally open or sparsely wooded.

Navasota ladies’-tresses is thought to require small-scale, patchy natural disturbances that provide canopy openings necessary to maintain habitat. Populations of this plant are often associated with claypan soils having fine sandy loam or loamy fine sand topsoils, and which are moderately to strongly acidic and well drained. However, plants have been found on a variety of soil types. Like other orchids, Navasota ladies’-tressesare often found in areas that, due to subsurface hydrology or topography, are slightly wetter than surrounding areas of the landscape, although surface moisture may not be obvious.

Orchid Power - Greenfly Orchid

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Greenfly Orchid (Epidendrum conopseum)

RANGE: Southeastern coastal plain from North Carolina to Louisiana; disjunct in eastern Mexico.

DESCRIPTION: Perennial herb on trees or rocks. The leafy stems extend to 30 cm and areattached to the substrate by a mass of slender roots. The leaves are leathery, evergreen, narrowly elliptic, dullgreen, 3-10 cm long, and 5-15 mm wide. The flowers are 2-3 cm wide, arranged in a loose terminal cluster. The three sepals and two lateral petals are mostly yellowish-green; the 3-lobed lip petal is tinged with dull purple. The fruit is an elliptic, drooping capsule.

HABITAT: Found in moist to seasonally dry woods on shaded limbs of hardwoods, especially southern magnolia and live oak,and the walls of deep sandstone (actually hardened clay known as Altamaha Grit) crevices kept cool by shade and evaporation of moisture.

SPECIAL IDENTIFICATION FEATURES: Greenfly orchid is Georgia's only orchid perched on trees, where it is often associated with resurrection fern and air plants. When terrestrial (on rock), greenfly orchid is distinguished from other orchids by its evergreen, leafy, flowering stem with inconspicuously colored (greenish-yellow, sometimes with purplish tinge), loosely arranged flowers.

REMARKS: Epidendrum is a genus of roughly 500 species found in the warmer portions of the New World. The genus name derives from the Greek words for "ontree," appropriate for a group comprised of non-parasitic plants that grow perched on trees. Most of the species are showier than the present species, and many are cultivated. This species was described in 1813, based on plants collected earlier in Florida by William Bartram. Epidendrum conopseum is the most frost-tolerant of epiphytic orchids, and therefore is sometimes collected from the wild in excess by unscrupulous or unthinking orchid growers or dealers. It has also sustained significant habitat loss due to clearing of forest land, chiefly for conversion to agricultural land or pine plantation.

Orchid Power - The Orchid Cactus - A Plant with Pedigree and Pizzazz

Orchid Power
The Orchid Cactus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) is often erroneously called "Night Blooming Cereus" or "Queen of the Night." It is one of the most bizarre and entrancing plants ever grown.

The Orchid Cactus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) is often erroneously called "Night Blooming Cereus" or "Queen of the Night." The Orchid Cactus is tropical in appearance, sprawling in nature, with extremely long, fleshy "leaves," which are actually flattened stems, similar in appearance to a giant Christmas cactus.

It can grow from a cutting a few inches long to almost five feet in height and width in just one summer.

During the winter, it survives handsomely with no fertilizer and a simple sip of water once every several weeks, making it an extremely easy plant to cultivate indoors, especially for people who routinely kill other, more sensitive houseplants.

As its name implies, the Orchid Cactus shares a kinship with the spectacular orchids and bromeliads which show off amid the steamy jungles of Central and South America. Like those species, it can be found tucked into mossy, compost-filled nooks and branch angles of trees, sending out aerial roots for support and nutrients.

Its proper botanical name, Epiphyllum, means on- or upon-the-leaf, referring to the plant’s production of flowers along the margins of its flattened stems. And what flowers they are!

Orchid Power - Spider Orchids

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Spider Orchids

Brassias are among the most exotic looking orchids, although they are easy to grow and sometimes flower more than once a year. Commonly and aptly named the Spider Orchid, most of the popular hybrids produce hundreds of colorful spidery blooms on long, adventurous stems than can last up to one month.

Of course, there is more to raising any plant than simply picking out a pretty one and offering it a bright window. Many orchids come from tropical climates and prefer high humidity, usually anywhere from 50 to 60 percent or more, and sometimes up to 75 percent. Most homes usually remain in the 35 to 50 percent range during the winter.

In fact, with few exceptions, a great many orchid species are epiphytes, meaning that they live on or above a plant, usually in trees, and obtain moisture from the air itself or from rainfall running down the sides of their host plants. Short of hosing down your living room on a daily basis, potential orchid growers will have to increase the humidity around their plants using some form of humidity tray. Daily misting is generally insufficient and frequently impractical.

The most basic humidity tray is a pan, even a cookie sheet, filled with pea gravel or pebbles. Orchids are placed on overturned saucers set atop the pebbles so that the orchid’s pot is never sitting in water. Water should be added to cover the pebbles on a regular basis, and replaced periodically. Evaporation from the pebbles will create a lush, humid environment around the plants — without turning the rest of the home into a sauna.

Orchid Power - "Queen of the Night"

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"Queen of the Night"

One of the most interesting, although possibly apocryphal, tales surrounding the plant comes from garden writer and editor Kathleen Fisher.

Kathy was scheduled to attend a Garden Writers Conference in Philadelphia at the same time her Epiphyllum was slated to bloom. Without hesitation, she packed up her unwieldy companion, secured it in her van and drove to the conference. Rumors of a late-night soiree, bottles of Pinot Grigio and a steady stream of garden writers making a pilgrimage to Kathy's hotel room to enjoy the botanical spectacle are unsubstantiated.

Kathy's plant is itself an offshoot from a sizeable plant owned by David Ellis, editor of The American Gardener, and is furthermore the progeny of a living room-sized plant nurtured by a neighbor of David's, a German goldsmith who escaped the Holocaust. The plant in my office, which normally occupies a respectable portion of my rooftop garden, has subsequently been propagated and shared with other friends.

In fact, in exchange for one rooted cutting, a coworker provided me with a plant from his native India coincidentally called "Queen of the Night," another fragrant nocturnal bloomer.

The unique history and pedigree of these hand-me-down plants seems to keep growing as quickly as the plants themselves, making these green specimens interesting from both a human and a horticultural perspective, and as equally endearing for the personal connections they inspire.