Calopogon tuberosus and Platanthera lacera in situ

[musicloveranthony]

I visited a wet meadow/rich fen, today. It's about 5 acres, surrounded by 30 acres of privately owned, highly degraded wet meadow (now mostly phalaris, and phragmites grass with heavy native shrub cover) to the west and 30 acres of wet meadow with some measure of invasive grasses, but also quite decent native diversity to the north, south and east. The area to the west is not managed and is very degraded. The areas to the north, south and east are managed and though degraded, look pretty good and have a good deal of native diversity.

Anyways, that aside, I found 4 Calopogon tuberosus plants in the rich fen portion of the site. Interestingly enough, the 4 I found were all growing in a fallow ditch that was made to drain the site in the 1930s. Resilience of nature!


Calopogon tuberosus (Grass Pink Orchid) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Calopogon tuberosus (Grass Pink Orchid) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Calopogon tuberosus (Grass Pink Orchid) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The area of rich fen also contains a few plants of Platanthera flava var. herbolia (tubercled rein orchid). This is an endangered species in Minnesota. I found 3 plants in early bud, so I will be returning to find them when in a couple weeks when they are in flower.

The wet meadow to the north, south and east of the rich fen contains quite a few plants of Platanthera lacera (ragged fringed orchid). These were mostly in early bud, but I did find 3 or 4 plants with a few of the lower buds open and snapped a pic of one of them


Platanthera lacera (Ragged Fringed Orchid) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Thanks for checking it out!