Unexpected find
 

I went outside to trim some shrubs and pull weeds in the mulch from front of my house. I use red eucalyptus mulch and a Oecceoclades maculata must have been in one of the bags. Definitely a unexpected find.

They're pan-tropic weeds. An invasive species. If you don't want a bunch of them, I'd grow that in a pot and monitor it very closely. As in don't ever let them set fruit, or if they do, destroy the fruits (seed pods).

According to Paul Martin Brown, they have become naturalized here and he's say's they can be a nuisance but has no evidence that they are invasive or replacing our native species. I will pot it up and watch it. I have seen them in the wild just didn't expect it in bagged mulch.

they're so well-established here in Florida now, I doubt that the impact of a plant going to seed in our yards or pots will make much of a difference. Mike Owen doesn't even consider them much of a problem even though they are friggin' ALL OVER THE FAKAHATCHEE.

---Prem

I just found them here in Pasco in 3 locations.

You should have seen the expression when I found the first one. It was way out in Starkey Wilderness Park. I thought I had found a new species of orchid. All excited till I found it was from Africa. Damn it anyway.

Still a nice find and I don't see that they are causing any problems where I have seen them. They seem to grow in a similar fashion as Habenaria odontopetela.

Don

Don

Lucky!

SOS

Which one of us is lucky?

All of us?

And why are we lucky?

You must get out into nature to find what you are looking for. I keep telling people that all the time. If you want to see nature in its glory you must get out into nature. It won't come to you you have to go to it and know what your looking for (species), where it should be (habitat it occurs in), and be VERY observant (a skill that should be learned). Alot of these plant species are very hard to see in the "massive sea of green" and so are some animals and birds.

Best wishes and Happy New Year

Don