Abundance of Orchids

On July 27th, I joined up with two friends with intentions to go observe and photograph some orchids species in Van Buren County, Tennessee. Throughout the day, we visited several sites and each site had different diversity but each site had orchids present. The main target for the day was Platanthera integrilaba - Monkey-Faced Orchid.

Not only we found Platanthera integrilaba, we ended the day with observing five different species of orchids. Good day, right? The others were: Platanthera ciliaris, Platanthera cristata, Platanthera integrilaba, Platanthera clavellata, and Spiranthes vernalis.

Range map for Platanthera integrilaba.

Source: Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Platanthera integrilaba, is a narrow endemic species that is currently listed as "threatened" and protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Many populations consist less than 100 individuals present. Most of the populations are in Tennessee, specifically the Eastern Highland Rim region. This species is listed as G2 (Imperiled) globally and S2 (Imperiled) on NatureServe.

Platanthera ciliaris - Yellow Fringed Orchid
Although not ranked by NatureServe yet, this species is pretty common especially in meadows, open woodlands, pine savannas, and bogs.

Here is the range map of Platanthera ciliaris

Platanthera cristata - Yellow-crested orchid
Listed as S2 (Imperiled) in Tennessee. This orchid has a dense inflorescence with triangular shaped nectary. The spur in this species is half the length of the ovary. I have attached a photo that I created to aid in the identification of this orchid.

Here is the range map for Platanthera cristata

Posted on July 29, 2024 10:21 PM by harriseli195