Day 5 — Orchids on the “Rock” — Newfoundland — 2013-07-07

We spent three days in Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland. Although there were lots of historical places to visit as well as an active lighthouse, my main interest was Rocky Harbour Bog. This is a huge bog system about a mile south of town. Access is problematic unless you have a GPS reading, since there is nothing but a moose trail leading into the woods. Suffice it to say, we did not have a GPS reading to guide us to the entrance.

Walter and I tried five different entrance points through the woods surrounding the bog. It was aggravating that the elevated bog was easily visible from the highway, but we just couldn’t find the right way to get in. To complicate matters, there was a shallow but wide stream between the highway and the bog. After the fifth time of trying to find the correct moose trail, I just said, “To Hell with it…”, and plowed through one more time. When I reached the stream, I took off my boots and socks and began wading across. Carrying camera equipment, bog maps and other written directions made things a bit dicey, and I ended up dropping one of my boots into the stream. Fortunately it floated; unfortunately it landed sideways and began filling with water. The mud on the edges of the stream was sticky and black, and made it impossible to clean my feet once I climbed out of the other side. Wearing heavy socks over muddy feet is no day at the park, let me tell you…

Anyway, here we were. We had been given directions to some Malaxis unifolia or Green Adder’s-Mouth orchid at a seep near the “real” entrance into the bog, so I set forth finding that real entrance. After walking the edge of the bog for a dozen meters or so north, it was easy to see the entrance and the path leading from the stream. We had just missed the correct way into the bog. &*$@! I located the crusty old foot bridge which would be our way out and walked my way back toward the bog. The Green Adder’s-Mouth orchid plants were known to be in a seepage area just before climbing into the raised bog.

Now, down our way in the Carolinas, Malaxis unifolia grows to be a moderately sized orchid, about 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) tall with a cluster of tiny flowers about 1 inch (2.5 cm) across at the top. That is what I was looking for. I searched and searched, and as I was about to give up, I spotted a tiny, yellowish-green cluster of flowers nestled deep in the grasses. Here is a shot of the tiny flowers from directly above the plant:

These were so hard to see, being nestled down in the tall grasses in the seep. If I looked a way for even a second, I had a hard time finding the flowers again. The cluster of flowers at the top of the plant was at most 1/2 inch (< 1 cm) wide. Here is a shot of one of the plants from the side. Note that it has only a single leaf; thus the botanical or specific epithet, “unifolia”; “uni” => one and “folia” => leaf. See, botanical names are quite meaningful, once you get the hang of it — don’t give up…

Here are a few more images of the Malaxis unifolia we found in Rocky Harbour Bog:

So, in order to find out more about the bog, we climbed the short distance to the bog, itself. Looking around, it was easy to see that one of the most frequently found orchids was, you guessed it, Arethusa bulbosa or Dragon’s Mouth orchid. So far, this orchid species had appeared in every bog we had visited. It’s so strange that an orchid so rare in our part of the country should be so very plentiful in Newfoundland. However, most of them were of the typical coloration, so I did not spend much time photographing them.

However, I did see a number of Calopogon tuberosus or Common Grass-Pink orchids blooming here and there, and they were in perfect bloom. So, I began to photograph them:

On the whole, the flowers of these Calopogon tuberosus orchids were much darker than the ones we commonly find in the Carolinas. In addition, the plants were, you guessed it again, very short; being no more than 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 cm) tall. However, the flowers were basically the same size as those I’m used to seeing in the Carolinas — about 1 inch (2.5 cm) across. The flower coloration is quite similar to that of the Arethusa bulbosa, so a closer look was needed to spot them in the bog:

We even found one growing close to a Dragon’s Mouth orchid:

Another plant that was in almost every bog we visited was Kalmia polifolia also known as Bog laurel or Sheep kill. This is a plant that is usually no more than 1 foot (30 cm) tall, but can be as tall as 3 feet (90 cm). It’s culsters of rosy-pink flowers are easy to spot in the higher places of the bog and along the roadsides. It’s common name, “Sheep kill” refers to the plant’s toxicity, and its presence can be quite problematic — especially in the pastures of domestic livestock:

It was getting to be late in the afternoon (we had toured the village of Rocky Harbour and the lighthouse at Lobster Head Cove during the morning), so we began making our way back out of the bog, this time, making sure we took the proper trail out.

On our way out, I spotted a flash of pink down deep in the grasses. This turned out to be Pogonia ophioglossoides or Rose Pogonia orchid. I had been told that we would see it in several of the bogs on this trip, so this find was not unexpected. However, I did not expect to see such short plants. Duh! What was I thinking — this is Newfoundland! They were maybe 2 inches (5 cm) tall, at most. Most of the ones I’m used to photographing are 12 to 15 inches (30 to 35 cm) tall. I keep forgetting that orchid species are short in Newfoundland:

This would be the last orchid species we would see for the day.

We made our way toward the place where I had  previously spotted the foot bridge. When we arrived at the bridge and took a closer look, it was easy to see that the bridge (which is used primarily in the winter for snowmobiles to cross the creek into the bog) was falling into the creek. It was resting at a precarious angle with one of the supporting spans being broken and its pieces almost touching the water. We wondered how we would make it safely across without falling into the creek. Gingerly, I made my way across, making sure I kept to the edge that was still rather level. After Walter saw that it was relatively safe to cross, he made his successful attempt:

Another awesome orchid trek into the bogs of Newfoundland. We were finding that each trip would promise us lots of orchids, but also it would bring us many interesting surprises along the way…

— Jim