Orchids!
I've been a lot less successful this year hunting orchids, in large part due to the fact that I'm getting much more ambitious in the plants I'm trying to find. I've got quite the backlog of pictures to edit, and even though I've got some orchid pictures, most of those sets don't contain the plants I was looking for. winktwice and I had a dynamite trip yesterday at the Beaver Swamp WMA, though, so these pictures jumped to the front of the line.
That plant is Platanthera ciliaris, which the twenty-second orchid I've found in New Jersey. I would argue that it's one of the most attractive in the state, as it is both large and showy. We also saw Platanthera blephariglottis, which is a perfect crystalline white, and Platanthera ×bicolor, the natural hybrid between the two (and orchid #23 in my hunt to find them all!). To top it off, we also found a few Platanthera cristata, the small orange cousin of the big plant shown above. As you might imagine, there are quite a few more pictures from the trip.
That plant is Platanthera ciliaris, which the twenty-second orchid I've found in New Jersey. I would argue that it's one of the most attractive in the state, as it is both large and showy. We also saw Platanthera blephariglottis, which is a perfect crystalline white, and Platanthera ×bicolor, the natural hybrid between the two (and orchid #23 in my hunt to find them all!). To top it off, we also found a few Platanthera cristata, the small orange cousin of the big plant shown above. As you might imagine, there are quite a few more pictures from the trip.