A cold morning thinking about plants

I’m not sure that calling a lichen a plant is totally appropriate since it’s a symbiosis between algae and fungi. However, this particular one is called Christmas wreath lichen, which seems appropriate for this time of year. And as I am sitting here with the snow, wind and cold (1F outside) it’s a cheerful photo.

A favorite group of plants are the sundews. Last year I think that I saw six species, three in Florida, three in Michigan. This one is a dwarf sundew in Florida.

Here’s a bizarre plant – squawroot (it has a newer name that I cannot remember). This plant is a saprophyte, using the roots of another plant to get chemicals and energy that it cannot make since it has no chlorophyll.

Pink lady’s slippers are a delightful orchid. we were excited when we found them flowering on our property a long time ago before we built our cabin. They have a fairly long season in flower since they occur all over Michigan.

A calypso orchid, also called fairy-slippers. We only know of a few sites in Mackinac County where these occur. They bloom from the last week of May into the first week of June.

This is a broad-lipped twayblade. Twayblades are small orchids. This year we found three species of twayblade in the eastern Upper Peninsula.

Eastern prairie white fringed orchid is a stunning larger orchid that we found at one sight in Washtenaw County, Michigan, not far from where we live.

And finally a stunning orchid that blooms in early August in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. This is am orange-fringed orchid.

More later…