365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Penny Perspectives - Slender Bog Orchid
Day 234: Although many of the Park's Orchidaceae lack chlorophyll, such is not the case for Platanthera stricta, Slender Bog Orchid. In fact, even its flowers are green (occasionally tinged with red or purple), a factor which makes it difficult to observe against a background of leaves and mosses. It can be found in bogs and along streams where the overstory provides shade and cooler temperatures on warm afternoons. The back of the flower presents a sac-like, inflated spur which is almost as long as the lower "tongue." It is not uncommon in the Park, but will require a "Penny Perspective" to spot. This specimen was photographed at Longmire.
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