Baby wild orchid (Dendrophylax porrectus/Harrisella porrecta)

[prem]

While out hiking Flagler trail (which inspired the poem 'Among Giants' posted to my blog at Florida's Native Orchids ), I approached a tree a bit off the main trail in the hunt for Jingle Bell Orchids (Dendrophylax porrectus - aka Harrisella porrecta). As I scanned the branches, I noticed a familiar sight...a number of small green shield-like leaves--each only 1-2 mm long--with emerging roots. I had found a number of newly germinated seedlings. This is the only leaf that the plant will have, as it rapidly grows into one of Florida's "leafless" orchids, bearing only small, scale-like leaf sheaths shielding a very abbreviated stem. The roots and flower spikes emerge directly from this stem and perform all the photosynthesis for this plant. Curiously, I found the seedlings before I found the "mama" plant on a nearby twig.

Here is a photo of one of the seedlings:



And here is a photo of what a "mama plant" looks like at this time of year:



And here is a photo of a plant in bloom back in September of last year:



The flowers are tiny, only about 3 mm across. Interestingly enough, they are strongly fragrant at night like many other angraecoids.

---Prem

[ronaldhanko]

Great photos and neat to see these seedlings.

[juanna]

Beautiful, impressive how the seedling grows....

[brooke]

What a treat for me to see something growing in the wild that I would have walked by without a notice.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Brooke

[isurus79]

Wow, thats really cool! Thanks for posting this! It must be Dendrophylax growing season, as my funalis and fawcetti are sending out new shoots for keiki (I think). Keep up the good work!

[snow]

wow. nature is a mirracle.