Oval Ladies Tresses Orchid

[prem]

This is one of the plants I was out "hunting" at Ichetucknee Springs State Park in north-central Florida recently. It is very seldom seen in the wild, being a small and shy plant. The flowers are wound in such a tight spiral that they appear to be arranged in three ranks up the stem.

This particular day was somewhat cloudy and a bit breezy, so natural light photos were not to be had.

Spiranthes ovalis



Canon EOS 400D, Sigma 105mm macro, flash with off-camera shoe and diffuser, f10, 160/s exposure, ISO 100.

Adjusted for color and contrast in Photoshop.

---Prem

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Thank you for posting this unusual find. What month was the picture taken

[Jkelee]

Where's the Picture??

[prem]

Sun Rm,
This photo was taken in mid-November.

Jkelee,
There must have been a momentary glitch on my webhost's server. The picture should show up now...hopefully.

---Prem

[Jkelee]

I just get this X in the thread?

[prem]

Hmm...I just cleared my browser cache and tried it again and it worked...perhaps you have some sort of security setting that prevents inclusion of images from another domain within a page? In any case, here's the direct link to the image:

http://www.flnativeorchids.com/image...alis_spike.jpg

[ronaldhanko]

Great picture, wonderful find.

[RoyalOrchids]

Another beauty, Prem. Was this a lone plant or were there several in a colony?

[Tindomul]

Very nice. I hope I get to see some in my neighborhood.

[Bloomin_Aussie]

I didn't realise Spiranthes was such a widespread genus. Excellent picture of a wonderful little plant