Orchids!
Last weekend, I took a hike at the Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area. It's a very pretty place, and doesn't tend to have people on most of the trails. I was searching for one of our latest blooming orchids (and I use that term loosely), though I didn't think I'd find it. I was pleasantly surprised.
That's Corallorhiza odontorhiza var. odontorhiza, the autumn coralroot. I didn't figure that I'd find it because it's small and the same color as the leaf-littered ground. It's a heterotroph (it gets its food from decaying organic matter rather than photosynthesis), so there's no leaves or other greenery to see. And, the flowers are cleistogamous, so they develop into seed pods without ever opening or being pollinated. It's probably our least attractive native orchid, and it's the twenty-fourth one I've found in New Jersey.
I also found a nice population of Spiranthes cernua at the height of bloom, and Goodyera pubescens and Cypripedium acaule out of season. You can see the rest of the pictures from the hike here.
That's Corallorhiza odontorhiza var. odontorhiza, the autumn coralroot. I didn't figure that I'd find it because it's small and the same color as the leaf-littered ground. It's a heterotroph (it gets its food from decaying organic matter rather than photosynthesis), so there's no leaves or other greenery to see. And, the flowers are cleistogamous, so they develop into seed pods without ever opening or being pollinated. It's probably our least attractive native orchid, and it's the twenty-fourth one I've found in New Jersey.
I also found a nice population of Spiranthes cernua at the height of bloom, and Goodyera pubescens and Cypripedium acaule out of season. You can see the rest of the pictures from the hike here.