Orchids!
There's a lull in orchid hunting in late June and early July as all the easy stuff in the woods stops flowering before some of the really showy stuff in open pinelands begins. That's not to say that there isn't anything blooming, but the stuff that is becomes quite hard to find. Also, the start of summer is frequently marked by an unpleasant heat wave, which makes it tough to want to go out hiking for plants that don't live in the shade. But this year, I've been making an effort to get out every weekend, and I've got a monster backlog of pictures to show for it. Yesterday's hike in Morris county was so exciting that it jumped straight to the front of the edit line.
That's Triphora trianthophora, the three birds orchid, which was a lucky find made by winktwice near an old woods trail. This plant doesn't always emerge from the ground each year, and it only opens its flowers for a day at a time. It's S1 in the state (1-5 occurrences), and it's the thirty-second orchid I've seen in New Jersey. You can see the rest of the pictures from the hike here.
That's Triphora trianthophora, the three birds orchid, which was a lucky find made by winktwice near an old woods trail. This plant doesn't always emerge from the ground each year, and it only opens its flowers for a day at a time. It's S1 in the state (1-5 occurrences), and it's the thirty-second orchid I've seen in New Jersey. You can see the rest of the pictures from the hike here.