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the good news is once you intitially find one your eyes get a search image and you start seeing them pretty often steve and i saw a few dozen blooming individuals that day and each one was a treat one of the main reasons i adore these orchids is their shape spiranthes orchids flower in either a single or double spiral this individual shows a single spiral really well this is a spring ladies tresses spiranthes vernalis first a note about the common name of the spiranthes i will be using ladies tresses which is what the ohio department of natural resources uses you will also see some places using lady s tresses ladies tresses or some other similar name a tress is a long lock of a woman s hair and these flowers take on the name ladies tresses as they resemble a braided lock of hair as common names are wont to do the spring ladies tresses does not bloom in the spring except when they do the issue here is that in the southern states where the common name stems from this species actually does bloom in the spring however the farther north you travel the later this species blooms so although the common name is due to its blooming habits in southern states this species actually blooms in late summer or early fall here in ohio it blooms as late as october once you get into new england a closeup of the flowers on the spring ladies tresses with a beetle guest the identification of ladies tresses can be difficult in ohio you can often narrow it down to 2 or 3 species depending on your location and time of year and then you have to start getting into the tiny details to separate them i am relatively new to plants so i always like to double check my id s with the more knowledgeable members of the facebook group ohio s wildflowers and flora which is a really wonderful group often the flowers and specifically the labellum or lip have some characteristic feature to help nail the identification in the spring ladies tresses the labellum often has a yellowish tinge as you can see in the photo above an uncommon plant here in ohio the spring ladies tresses is confined to only 8 counties in the southern tip of ohio next we have a much smaller species this is the little ladies tresses spiranthes tuberosa this dainty species is also an inhabitant of dry prairies and meadows like the previous spring ladies tresses although they can be found in other habitats as well but this species is generally much smaller in height this individual was probably less than a foot high while the spring ladies tresses we saw were about 2 feet or so tall as i previously mentioned the labellum of many spiranthes orchids holds a clue as to what species it is in this case the labellum is pure white while the previous spring ladies tresses had a labellum with a yellow tinge this pure white labellum is an easy way to quickly identify spiranthes tuberosa the little ladies tresses has a decently wide range in ohio in fact it pretty much has a straight distribution line from adams county in southern ohio up to ashtabula county in extreme northeastern ohio that s about two or three counties wide you can see a range map here this is the slender ladies tresses spiranthes lacera var gracilis which was last spiranthes species we saw that day i should note that ladies tresses are often a hard genus of flowers to photograph they re generally short and very thin this gives your camera s autofocus quite a challenge many times the main issue is that they are often set among similarly sized grasses and assorted other flowers as a result a camera s autofocus has a hard time deciding what exactly you re trying to focus on if you add a breeze good luck luckily this day was quite still for the most part at least there was one instance where i was trying to focus on an individual while there was an intermittent breeze as soon as my camera would focus on the spiranthes a breeze would come and move the flower out of focus and my camera would then decide to focus on a random piece of grass cue the process of trying to refocus on the flower only to have the process repeat again a few seconds later the defining characteristic of the slender ladies tresses is the green spot on the labellum which you can see above if you noticed in the previous paragraph i said this was spiranthes lacera var gracilis you might notice that this isn t the normal type of scientific name with only a genus and species part there s also a var gracilis this means that it is the gracilis variety of spiranthes lacera a variety is essentially a distinct type within a species s lacera var gracilis is also known as the southern slender ladies tresses the other variety is s lacera var lacera also called the northern slender ladies tresses andrew gibson the blogger at the buckeye botanist helped me on the variety part he said the best way to differentiate the two varieties is by the presence of basal leaves at anthesis variety gracilis basal leaves are gone while var lacera s are still there during flowering additionally var gracilis is a single rank of flowers in a tight spiral aro und the stem var lacera s flowers are more or less secund and all to one side of the stem and hardly spiraled he also pointed out that var lacera hasn t been found in ohio so far although he believes it is probably somewhere in extreme northern ohio my trip to blue jay barrens was jam packed with exciting species and hopefully i ll have some more time to make at least another post on it these three orchids which were all lifers for me bring me up to 14 orchid species for my life list out of the 47 species in ohio posted by kyle brooks at 10 43 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks adams county ohio botany orchids prairies rare plants wildflowers location adams county oh usa wednesday october 15 2014 a gentian and an orchid about three weeks ago i and a couple of other ohio university students made the trip up to northern ohio to assist with a graduate student s salamander research while up in erie county we decided to stop by castalia quarry metropark to check it out after pulling into the parking lot we decided to head down the fringed gentian trail after a few feet in a forest the trail opened up to this limestone based prairie knowing that this was prime blooming time for the fringed gentians i eagerly began searching the grasses for a fringed gentian a lifer for me after only about 3 minutes of searching a medium sized blue flower caught my eye quickly moving to it i laid eyes upon a beauty of a flower there are multiple gentian species in ohio including two of the fringed kind which get their names from the fringing on the flowers these are the lesser and the greater the ones i came across at castalia quarry were the greater fringed gentian gentianopsis crinita this species is state listed as potentially threatened as of 2008 this species has been recorded in only 10 counties here in ohio mostly in the north and northeast so why is this a greater fringed instead of a lesser both occur in erie county so i wasn t sure i didn t feel comfortable enough making the id so i consulted the facebook group ohio s wildflowers and flora andrew gibson a field botanist for odnr and the blogger who runs the amazing natural treasures of ohio ided it as a greater fringed gentian he said there is distinct fringing across the summit of the petals and the cauline leaves are more lance ovate and stubby lesser fringed gentian s leaves are much narrower linear and longer by comparison greater fringed gentians can be found in wet meadows and prairies ditches fens and a variety of other open habitats this is an autumn blooming species which blooms from september to october which is relatively late in the year for flowers they were definitely one of the coolest flowers i ve seen and they re definitely worth a look for those interested while i was taking pictures of the prairie area the others of the group decided to head back to the car after i was finished with my photos i began heading back to the car myself along the way a tiny spike of white flowers made me freeze looking over i saw to my surprise that it was none other than a species of ladies tresses a type of orchid closer inspection revealed it was the great plains ladies tresses spiranthes magnicamporum which is yet another state listed plant potentially threatened as the name suggests this is a prairie species that is at home in the great plains this species however does exist in other pocket prairies throughout the east including a few places throughout ohio this ladies tresses orchid is quite similar to s cernua in fact it was considered the same species until 1973 but there are a few distinguishing features the great plains ladies tresses is found in prairie habitats the one above was found in a dry limestone prairie for example there are also no leaves on the stem when this species flowers and instead is just the stem coming straight up from the ground with a spike of white flowers closer inspection of the flowers also holds some identification traits as you can see in the photo above the lip of the flower curls downward the sepals which can be found above the curled flower extend past the lip of the flower this species also has a very strong scent both of these flowers were a completely unexpected find i m very happy we stopped by the park i ve been going on these weekend salamander research trips for the last 3 weeks and i ve seen a lot of cool stuff i ll be working on a few more blog posts that go over some of the things i ve been able to get photos of so stay tuned posted by kyle brooks at 4 35 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks botany erie county ohio orchids prairies rare plants wildflowers location castalia quarry reserve castalia oh 44824 usa tuesday july 29 2014 flowers on the prairies as i mentioned in my post about lynx prairie adams county is home to the rare xeric limestone pocket prairie habitat man what a name also known as cedar glades edit woo i just passed 20 000 views on my blog with this post thank you all so very much for your support the north prairie at lynx prairie these small prairies that are scattered around adams county are thousands of years old possibly 10 000 years they have a basic soil 8 ph that is nutrient poor because these soils are typically only a few inches deep water evaporates very easily which then makes for very dry soil all these factors make for a very harsh living environment and as a result many unique and rare plant species have come to adapt to this environment this post will go over a few of the rare and some of the common flowers that were blooming in late july let s start with a rarity in ohio this is american bluehearts buchnera americana this is state listed as threatened in ohio and is state listed in many other states as well american bluehearts have only been recorded in 6 counties here in ohio however only three counties have had records since 1980 those three counties are pike jackson and adams american bluehearts can be found in limestone glades the one above was found at lynx prairie prairies open woods and moist sandy soils like you might find on roadsides according to odnr management is a necessity for this species to continue to exist in ohio american bluehearts are yet another species that greatly benefit from the burning of land every few years as a result controlled burning should be carried out in the lands where this species grows to maintain a decent population there i have covered parasitic plants on here before indian pipe and squawroot and now i can also add american bluehearts to that list american bluehearts are what is known as hemiparasitic which means that while they can live independently they can also live as parasites in the case of american bluehearts this species will attach parasitic roots to nearby trees and take nutrients from them especially when there are difficult living conditions like a drought going on let s continue with another flashy flower canada lily lilium canadense this individual was found at chaparral prairie and let me tell you you will not pass by this flower without noticing it a tall species canada lily can reach heights of 5 feet or so hanging reddish flowers 5 feet in the air are hard to ignore i will admit i was very excited to finally find this plant while canada lily is showy when you look at it at the angle in the previous photo look up into the flowers and you ll be blown away canada lily is probably ohio s most common lily species a resident of the allegheny plateau of eastern ohio this species can be found in open woodland openings in forests moist prairies and savannas next let s move on to one of the liatris species that was just beginning to bloom in the prairies of chaparral prairie snp this is dense blazingstar liatris spicata dense blazingstar is the most common blazingstar species in ohio there are 7 native species the individual above was the one that was most in bloom at the time as all the others only had about 10 or less of the flowers blooming when blooming peaks chaparral prairie is awash with tall purple spikes swaying in the breezing among the greens of the grasses and prairie docks dense blazingstar is a species that prefers more moist instead of dry soils and as a result isn t limited in habitat choices you can find this species in moist prairies wetlands like fens and marshes and other wet fields even though this is the most common blazingstar species in ohio it s still not overly common by any means it has been recorded in about 27 or so counties that are scattered all throughout ohio another liatris species in bloom currently is scaly blazingstar liatris squarrosa which i ve previously covered another state listed species scaly blazingstar was blooming in force at lynx prairie you can read more about this species on my scaly blazingstar feature a very common species in ohio s prairies is gray headed coneflower ratidiba pinnata both purple and gray headed coneflowers can be found in ohio prairies but in my experience the gray headed coneflower generally outnumbers the purple notice the drooping yellow petals a diagnostic feature a taller species that can reach heights of 3 4 feet gray headed coneflowers offered a nice contrast to the low greens of lynx prairie as their yellow flowers jutted up into the sky gray headed coneflower is an inhabitant of prairies forest edges thickets and railroad right of ways a hardy species gray headed coneflower can thrive in both xeric dry and mesic moist environments this species can generally be found in the western glaciated parts of ohio but has also been recorded in eastern counties like athens county while gray headed coneflower is a common flower in ohio prairies a rare denizen of the ohio prairies is rattlesnake master eryngium yuccifolium this species is one th...