Enjoying some success in finding different orchids the day before, I was excited to look for more hardy orchids. This time I headed to a different location also known to have orchids. The sun was out bringing with it warmer temperatures combined with higher humidity making it feel quite warm for wandering through the swampy woods some of these orchids call home. Even though I was doused in bug spray, the mosquitoes didn’t seem to care. They attacked from time to time anyway. Carefully watching each step, trying to avoid wet feet and stepping on a native orchid, I slowly moved through the forest on my hunt. It felt familiar, like I was stalking something during the hunting season. Only this time what I was searching for was on the forest floor hidden among the leaves and branches.
After 15 or 20 minutes of searching, the first one was spotted. It was the Goodyera repens, otherwise known as the Rattlesnake orchid. I couldn’t believe how small it was. Each multicolored leaf was about the size of my thumbnail. It would have been easy to walk right past it. In fact, I probably walked past several of them. The flower stalk was growing but it was a little too early for the blooms to be open. Even as I continued my hunt finding several more, the flowers were all a few weeks from opening. Success! Here was my 4th orchid new to me. While scouring the woods for more orchids I spotted more Coralroot seed heads along with more Hooker’s orchids.
The next day I continued my quest for orchids and saw the Northern Green Bog orchid along with the Blunt leaved rein orchid for new sightings. Once again the Hookers orchid and several Lady Slipper’s were spotted on this day as well. At the end of the 4 days looking for orchids I managed to find 10 native to Minnesota. Six of these were species I had not spotted before which is the number I was shooting for. That brings the total for 2020 to seven species of native orchids new to me. I’m not expecting to do much more searching this year but have begun thinking about which orchids I’d like to find next year. There’s still several more in this area that I want to find so another adventure to Northwestern Minnesota will need to be made.
