Orchid Spotting in Michigan ******************************************************************************    by Alex Challis     Several members of the AAOS went in search of native orchids this past June 14. We visited four locations, each within 45 minutes of Ann Arbor, and found seven species of orchids. We met at Don Fishel's house in Chelsea, where Don has discovered the Small White Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium candidum on his property. This species is one of the earliest to bloom, and are usually done by this time of year. But we were lucky in that several were still in fairly good shape. The flowers have green, twisting petals with brown markings, with a white pouch and a bright yellow staminode. This species can be found in eastern Canada and the U.S., south to Missouri, growing in boggy meadows, and is most frequent in Michigan. The second location was Embury Road off of North Territorial Road. This is on the eastern border of Park Lyndon North, where we went swampwalking two years ago, and saw many Showy Lady's Slippers, Cypripedium reginae. Last year, rather than going knee-deep in the wet, we took Wal and Jill Upton from Australia along this road where we found one nice specimen about five feet from the road, holding its flowers directly towards us, and completely unobstructed. Remembering that it was growing in front of a tree that had a "No Hunting" sign on it, it should be easy enough to find again. We did find that very same plant, right in front of one of many trees with posted signs, but it was still about a week or two away from blooming. Last year at this same time, it was at its peak. The late spring (or was it still winter?) must have delayed it this year. Cypripedium reginae is the largest Lady's Slipper of those native to Michigan, growing to a meter in height. Its tall height allows it to be quite visible above the other foliage and "weeds" of the plant world. It bears one or two white flowers with rose pink on the pouch, and can grow into large clumps which put on a nice display. The habitat is open areas around margins of bogs and swamps and wet woodlands. The range is from Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, south to the mountains of Tennessee and South Carolina. Our next stop was the sphagnum bog at Cedar Lake in the Waterloo Recreation Area. This is a spot that I have visited many times over the years, and the orchid flowers are always open in Mid-June. The stabilizing nature of the bog itself makes it less influenced by climate. This bog also has a boardwalk, allowing you to get into the bog, without having to get wet or trample any plants. We found a couple of dozen flowering plants of the Moccasin flower, Cypripedium acaule, and many more younger plants without flowers. Most were growing on sphagnum hummocks in bright sun, while some others were found in deeper shade. Those in deeper shade had darker pink pouches. Cypripedium acaule is found in a wide variety of habitats: swamps and bogs, hardwood and conifer woodlands, along streams, and on coastal sand hills. It is found from Newfoundland to Alberta, south to Alabama. Even with this assortment of growing conditions, it is one of the most difficult native orchids to cultivate. Another orchid blooming in this bog were a dozen or so Dragon's Mouth Orchids, Arethusa bulbosa. The pink flowers are born singly, the sepals are erect, and the petals are curved over the lip, which has distinct yellow ridges down the center and a scalloped margin. They can be found in bogs, swamps and marshes from the Great Lakes area to Nova Scotia and the mountains of North Carolina. This bog is also home to insectivorous plants: a large number of Pitcher Plants, and a few Sundews. After lunch we headed to Sharon Hollow, just west of Manchester, where three orchids were seen. The Yellow Lady's Slippers, Cypripedium calceolus var. parviflorum, were growing among scouring rushes (Equisetum hymale), but only along the edges of the deer trails. The Equisetum was quite thick, out in the open, and quite wet. Several more specimens were found along a trail in a slightly shaded area. At first we found only a few, but ended up finding them by the dozens. Many of the flowers had begun to fade, but a number were still fresh. Most of the plants in this area were a foot or so tall, but a couple of individual plants were twice that height. As the name implies, this slipper has a yellow pouch, with brownish, twisting petals. It is mainly found in bogs and swamps in northeastern U.S. and adjacent areas of Canada. Some of us had scouted the area a couple of weeks in advance, to find the exact areas where the orchids would be, and also because one of them, the Showy Orchis, Galearis spectabilis, was already in peak bloom. By the time the group got there, only a couple of dried-up flowers remained, although the foliage was very distinctive. It was amazing how quickly the other plants had grown up in the course of this short time, and it made finding them a little difficult. We had noted that one batch were at the junction of two fallen trees, but these logs were almost obscured in just two weeks. The plants are small, the inflorescences about four to six inches high, but the flowers were just as its name implies. The sepals and petals form a pink hood over the column, and the lip is pure white, with about four or five flowers per spike. These orchids prefer rich, wet, beech-maple woods, and can be found in southern Ontario and Quebec, south to Alabama, and west to Missouri and Iowa. The last orchid we spotted was the unusual Puttyroot, Aplectrum hyemale. The leaves appear in the autumn, stay green all winter, and dry up just before the flowers appear. During the scouting trip, we found a large grouping of them a little upland from the Galearis. The leaves were still green, and the flower spikes were just beginning to form buds. By the time of our field trip, the leaves had turned brown, and the flowers had opened up and were almost finished. There were around a dozen flowers per spike, green with a brownish-red tinge, and a white lip. Another group of them were seen earlier right in the middle of a trail, and while we couldn't find these exact plants, Judy Lobato found some additional plants nearby. These were the yellow form of the Puttyroot, and while not as many of them, they were just as interesting. The travel to these sites by foot was fairly easy, only a little water and mud here and there. While most of the orchids were at their peak, fortunately, the mosquitoes were not! We'll do this again next season, and also hope to have information and techniques for growing some of these orchids. A couple of our members have constructed artificial bogs or have other methods, which we will put together. *****************************************