Showy Ladies’-slipper (Platanthera reginae)
I paid a heavy price for my recent trip to Iceland. I was gone from Manitoba for the last 2 weeks of June, probably the best time for Manitoba wild flowers. As a result I missed some wonderful flowers so I will show some shots from my archives.
Grass Pink Orchid (Calopogon tuberosus)
Rose Pogonia (Polonia ophioglossoides)
These are some of my favourite Manitoba Orchids. What a pity.
After spending a couple of hours here it was time to leave. Actually I did not give it enough time, but today, as I said, I could not mosey along as I like to do. I drove out to the Woodridge Bog. Again conditions were windy and sunny–far from ideal. But you gotta dance with the girl you brung.
I was soon rewarded with one of my favorite flowers–Low Prairie Rose. That is one of my favourite Manitoba wild flowers. I love that flower! It was very dry so I sprinkled a little water on some of the blossoms. I find a little rain (either natural or store bought) helps bring out the colours of this gentle gem of a flower. I do not consider that cheating. Do you?
Other flowers I saw here included Spreading Dogbane, Harebell, Showy Lady’s-slippers and Small round-leaved orchid but sadly past their prime.
Small round-leaved orchid
Showy Lady’s-slipper
The Showy Lady’s-slipper is perhaps one of Manitoba’s most spectacular orchids but most of them were mostly spent. I found a few worth photographing.
Showy Lady’s-slipper
This is the price I paid for going to Iceland. It was a high price. I did find some gorgeous clumps and made a mental note to return next year, but you know mental notes are worth the paper they are not written on. I did later find one nice showy as a result of diligence and persistence. Righteous living was rewarded. For once!
After our return from Iceland, and after realizing I had missed 2 of the best wild flower weeks of the year I was very anxious to get out and see some flowers. I was not disappointed. In fact it was one of my most amazing natural history jaunts ever! In one day, I saw 2 of Canada’s most rare species—one a flower and one a butterfly!
First I drove to the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, one of my favorite places. I immediately walked towards the site where the Western Prairie Fringed-orchid (Platanthera praeclara) appear every summer. I was not disappointed. This is the best place in the world to see this orchid. These orchids used to be fairly common on the prairies but have disappeared with the disappearance of their habitat. I had a little more trouble than normal finding the flowers. That was a bit disconcerting. Where were they I wondered? I soon realized that there were many flowering plants, but all of them without exception were small and short. No huge plants jutted out to the sky as they typically do. I inferred that this was a result of very dry conditions this spring and summer. The prairie was dry and I concluded the flowers were keeping a low profile in order to conserve their energy and water. I just had to look a little harder to find them, but they were there.
I quickly set about trying to photograph them. Conditions were tricky. The sun was harsh creating deep shadows. Added to that problem, it was very windy. Trying to photograph these flowers was indeed challenging. I think I did a reasonable job under these difficult circumstances.
When I was done I also noticed a young lady in the field. I had been too absorbed to notice her. Too absorbed in the flowers to notice a young woman. Imagine that. So I sauntered over (OK I meandered over) to talk to her. What was she looking for? I presumed the Western Prairie fringed too, but I was wrong. She was looking for a butterfly. A very rare butterfly.
She explained that she was employed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada and she was doing a survey of a very rare butterfly called Poweshiek Skipperling (Oarisma poweshiek) (Parker, 1870). She informed me that this butterfly could be found in only 1 place in Canada and this was it. Just like the Western Prairie Fringed-orchid that is found no where else in Canada. What a double header! I was very fortunate.
Were it not for the woman who worked with the Nature Conservancy there is no doubt I would not have found this butterfly. I had never heard of it before. I actually got only a fleeting look at it as it flew past a larger Fritillary butterfly. She said the skipperling loved Brown-eyed Susans and there were many of these wild flowers here, as I knew.
This skipper is very dark brown, with an orange suffusion along the costa. Below, the hind wings are dark greyish, with white-lined veins. The wingspan is only 24 to 30 mm. According to The Butterflies of Canada by Ross A. Layberry, Peter W. Hall, and J. Donald Lafontaine. University of Toronto Press; 1998 its range is in just a few states west and south of the Great Lakes as well as south-eastern Manitoba—i.e. here. There is only one generation of this butterfly each year and they have been found in Manitoba between June 23 and July 8. That is not a very large window of opportunity.
It was discovered here in July of 1985, at about the same time as the Western Prairie Fringed-orchid was discovered here. It is believed to becoming scarcer all the time. The problem of course is that its habitat is becoming scarcer. The woman was very pleased to see a specimen that was a pregnant female that appeared to be in very good shape. Hopefully it would produce offspring.
By another amazing coincidence later in the week I read an article on this butterfly that I have never heard of before, in the Winnipeg Free Press. The article reported that 6 more Poweshiek by the Assiniboine Park Conservatory this week. That sounds like a puny number, but scientists estimate there are only 100 of them left in North America! This may be the most rare species I have ever seen!
The Assiniboine Conservatory had bred the butterflies over the winter in captivity. Last summer the conservancy brought 2 wild female Poweshiek skipperlings to the Assiniboine Park Zoo for 3 days to lay eggs before releasing the 2 will females back into the wild.
Once the eggs hatched, specialists monitored the caterpillars in a climate-controlled incubator over the winter. In the lab they placed the skipperlings in a n incubator at a constant temperature of -4ºC to mimic conditions in the wild where normally they would spend the winter under the snow.
The program was very successful. “Every caterpillar survived the winter.”[1]I was extremely lucky to have met this scientist and seen this rare butterfly. What an amazing day on the prairie!
I did not get a good look at the butterfly. It was very small and whizzed by me and I had no chance to photograph it. What a pity.
Other flowers I saw included the following: Western Wood Lily, Creamy Peavine, Common Milkweed, Swamp milkweed, Brown-eyed Susan, Heal-All, andPurple Prairie Clover.I was in heaven, but my luck had only begun.
Western Wood Lily or Prairie Lily
Purple Prairie Clover
What a great way to return to Manitoba. I am blessed.
[1]Erik Pindera, “Endangered butterflies released into wild,” The Winnipeg Free Press, July 5, 2018 p. B3.
I led the Steinbach Garden Club to the Brokenhead Wetlands Interpretive Trail today. We saw 10 different types of orchids in bloom, plus 1 that was spent showing just its seed capsule. The Brokenhead Wetlands is one of the premier sites for orchids and other wild flowers in Manitoba. It contains 28 of Manitoba’s 37 orchids.
The 37 orchids of Manitoba range from gorgeous large Showy Lady’s-slippers to Coral-roots that have no leaves and produce no chlorophyll and hence no food. Instead they depend on mycorrhizal partners for sustenance. Manitoba produces 3 Coral-roots. This is spotted Coral-root, my favourite.
The Ecological Reserve contains 23 of Manitoba’s rare and uncommon plants including 8 of Manitoba’s carnivorous plants. If you look carefully you will see 2 of Manitoba’s sundews on this photo. Sundew leaves are covered with hairs that secret a shiny substance to attract unwary insects and then aids in their digestion. This is one of those cases where the plant world turns the tables on the insects, which usually eat the plants. When the hapless insect has been digested all that is left is the dry exoskeleton. I saw one plant that was rolled up around its prey. Later it will unfurl again, leaving the remains to blow away in the wind.
Dragon’s Mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) was the highlight. It i certainly one of Manitoba’s most beautiful orchids. Last week I went there and was very happy to see Dragon’s Mouth in glorious bloom. I thought the Garden club would not be able to see them this week. Thankfully, I was wrong. There were even more in bloom than last week and some, very cooperatively, were right beside the boardwalk.
It was difficult to photograph the tiny Small Round-leaved orchid as it was blowing in the wind. Fortunately I found one that was deep in the forest and hence somewhat protected from annoying wind.
The Showy Lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium reginae) just emerged. This truly is the Queen of orchids in Manitoba.
It was a great day in the bog.
Small round-leaved orchid (Rotundifolia galearis)
Today I went to my second favourite bog–Woodridge. The bogs are coming alive.
Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper with mosquito waiting for prey–i.e. me.
Ram’s Head Lady,s-slipper
A fine evening in the bog. If you like bogs that is.
I took this photograph of an orchid yesterday and it is already one my favourite orchid images ever. It is Dragon’s Mouth (Arethusa bulbosa) the star of the Brokenhead Wetland Ecological Reserve.
Yesterday, after I found the Moccasin-flower, that I blogged about, I moved to the Brokenhead Wetlands Ecological Reserve, one of my favorite places in the world. Today it was resplendent.
I met people in the parking lot who assured me there were not mosquitoes in the bog. That was a relief for it allowed me to remove my leggings. It was 31ºC and humid (as bogs always are) so I did not relish continuing in the heat with long pants. Had I not removed them I feared that tomorrow there might be a headline in the Winnipeg Free Press“Old man dies of heat exhaustion in bog.” Or perhaps “Crazy old man…”
At the edge of the fen I spotted a wonderful Dragon’s Mouth(Arethusa bulbosa) orchid, the star of the show. This was the headliner and for good reason. It is a wonderful flower clad in magnificent pink. This is certainly one of my favorite orchids.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the number of cars in the parking lot and number of people I met along the trail. The trail is obviously being well used and everyone I talked to loved the area. Even the children were interested in the bog. I noticed they spent a lot of time there, often lying on the boardwalk peering down into the bog.
I was surprised to see Small Round-leaved Orchid (Galearis rotundifolia) as it is now called. It looked like the flowers had just recently emerged. I tried to get a photograph but it was very difficult to do that from the boardwalk. What a pity. My photographs were not very good, but it was the best I could do.
This is the smallest of Manitoba’s Lady’s-slippers. A mosquito looks like a giant on it. This is the very rare Ram’s head Lady’s-slipper . Last year members of the North American Orchid Conference group of which I am a member came here for their annual conference and seeing this was high on the agenda of most attendees.
Today was a strange day. It was extremely hot. So hot I actually stopped photographing Arethusa bulbosa before I really exhausted the Stead site. That is a sin. But I was just plain tired. Added to that, it was windy and I had a lot of trouble getting the right focus. My recent cataract surgery did not help. Partly that is because my “improved” eye is so much better that my glasses subscription is wrong and that eye is still blurry. So I had to reject a lot of images. Yet I also captured some images that pleased me a lot! I am confused, but very happy with the “keepers” I got. It was a great day in the hot bog.
Thus ended one of my finest days in the bog ever. Despite my cataracts, the wind, and excess sun I did my best to capture some images. Today I was able to celebrate what’s right with the world as the photographer DeWitt Jones always recommends. It was all good.
Today I went in search of more orchids. I started out at Belair Provincial Forest. The orchids I was looking for reside in dry pine forests, unlike most other Manitoba orchids. It was extremely hot today. In fact it was so hot even the mosquitos did not venture out. Only mad dogs and orchid nuts go out in the mid day sun.
I found what I was looking for. Moccasin-flower or Pink Lady’s-slipper as it is sometimes called. I don’t really think they look pink. More maroon I would say.
The name for orchids is derived from the Greek word ὄρχις (orchis)which means testicle. Looking at the moccasin flower you might think you knew why. But you would be wrong. The name actually was used in reference to the underground tuberoids of orchis that are supposed to resemble testicles.
Sometimes the orchid world reveals sins. Those sins include deception, trickery or adultery. Previously I have shown you Small White Lady’s Slipper and Large or Small Yellow Lady’s Slippers. The Whites are very rare. But there is something even more rare hybrids between the Whties and the Yellows. These are created by adulterous relations between 2 different species that have produced offspring.
The offspring are called Cypripedium Xandrewsii. Last year I had the fortune to see these in Manitoba. You can see that their colour is sort of a creamy white from the different shades of the two parents.
Sometimes the stars align. I was just thinking that I had not yet seen the Northern Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum var. makasin) when I got an email from a friend who said some were blooming just across the road from his home not far from where I live. As soon as possible I headed out.
The Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper is very similar to the Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper. In fact some botanists claim there is only one species. On the other hand some believe that there is a third yellow species with fairly flat lateral sepals. Don’t think these issues are not important to orchids nuts. I am a member of Native Orchid Conservation Inc. an organization dedicated to the preservation of native orchids and other plants. a few years ago a former President of our organization threatened to sue our current President at the time for denying in a radio interview that there was a 3rd species in. Most botanist disagreed asserting there are only 2 species, but our former President was passionate that there were 3. As a lawyer I am of course reluctant to say litigation is not a good thing, but this was pretty ridiculous. The orchid world is filled with fanatics. Thank goodness they rarely lead to jihads.
The Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper is smaller than the Large. That is why some say the smaller ones are just stunted large ones. The Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper also has darker petals and sepals as you can see from my photograph.
Yesterday, I found two of Manitoba’s lady’s-slippers. Last night I posted photos of the Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper. It is the most common of Manitoba’s lady’s-slippers. I also saw the most rare of our Lady’-slippers. The Northern small white lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium candidum), is usually found in moist prairies or ditches in different parts of southern Manitoba. I found these in the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, one of my favorite places. They are very difficult to find, even when you know where to look because they are so low to the ground.
This orchid is in danger of extirpation. That means it could disappear from Canada. That would be a big loss. That is why they are listed under Canada’s Species at RiskActand Manitoba’s Endangered Species and Ecosystems Act.
These orchids are so rare because so much of the prairies have been converted to farms, homes and businesses. Added to that, too many people pick them (after all they are so beautiful) and they suffer from agricultural spraying and mowing. It seems strange but these flowers also miss prairie fires that used to help them against their competitive plants.
We need to work hard to save such beauties. I think its worth the effort. Don’t you?