north american native orchid journal - at The Culture Sheet

Brown: TWO WEEKS AND 39 ORCHIDS IN WESTERN
NEWFOUNDLAND
• Burnt Cape, across from Cape Norman, is one of the alltime
favorite places to explore. From the tiny town of
Raleigh on Route 437 cross the causeway on to Burnt
Island and drive to your right out to the Cape. The large
cigar-shaped island is nearly barren of tress and sliced with
deep ravines that run the length. The gravel roads are good
and travel is easy. Towards the end of the island, at a picnic
area that is just opposite the town of Raleigh on the
mainland, is the real attraction - Calypso bulbosa var.
americana, eastern fairy-slipper, and the type locality for
the forma rosea. You have to search carefully and watch
your step in and around the ravines but within the sides of
them, and occasionally on the top edges, are to be found
the calypsos. Other species that are scattered on the cape
include Coeloglossum viride var. viride, northern bracted
green orchis; Corallorhiza trifida, early coralroot; Goodyera
repens, lesser rattlesnake orchis; Listera borealis, northern
twayblade; L. cordata, heart-leaved twayblade;
Gymnadeniopsis clavellata var. ophioglossoides, northern clubspur
orchis; P. obtusata, blunt-leaved rein orchis forma
collectanea; and Pseudorchis straminea, Newfoundland orchis.
Several interesting and unusual ferns can also be found
here and the whale watching is excellent!
• Watts Point Ecological Reserve - this is the only out of
the way stop that is recommended. Driving north when
route 430 turns east at Eddies Cove continue for 2-3 km to
the wide-open barrens of the preserve. Exploring areas on
both sides of the road, but particularly on the east, you will
find tens of thousands of Amerorchis rotundifolia, small
round-leaved orchis. These are some of the smallest
plants I have ever seen of this species (some no more than
2 or 3 cm tall) and the alternative common name, flyspeck
orchid, seems apt. Small roadside scrapes often yield large
numbers of Malaxis brachypoda, white adder's-mouth.
Numerous other wildflowers that are only found across the
strait in Labrador are also found here. It needn't be a long
14