north american native orchid journal - at The Culture Sheet

Empiricist: JEWELS IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES
JEWELS IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES
The Slow Empiricist
It is not true that orchids are fragile hothouse plants for
they occur all over the world from beyond the Arctic Circle south
to nearly Antarctica! And if the melting going on there continues
they may eventually pop up there.
So, if they are so widespread and seemingly hardy why are
they rare, threatened and endangered? There are lots of reasons
from man’s constant expansion into orchid habitat to extremes in
the particular orchids’ natural range with southern species
reaching the limit of their ability to survive further north of their
range. Weather also plays its part with drought years cutting into
survival and reproduction (although orchids often go dormant in
dry years to bloom exuberantly in normal or wetter years). Some
orchids are fire respondent and also bide their time until a wild
fire or controlled burn eliminates the competing flora so they can
bring forth a large blooming population.
Back to the overarching question if orchids are so
widespread and seemingly hardy where are they hiding? Where are
these unlikely places where one can find an orchid?
Having traveled extensively in the United States and
Canada there is one enormous habitat that is sprinkled liberally
with many species of orchids. Quite simply it is along the
roadsides themselves that many orchids find a home. Spiranthes,
ladies-tresses, are particularly happy in that kind of habitat. They
like open sunny locations that are mowed to keep down
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