Day 7 — Orchids on the “Rock” — Newfoundland — 2013-07-09

We had several places on our agenda to visit today: Table Point Ecological Reserve (near Bellburns), Philips Garden Trail (near Port au Choix), and New Ferolle Peninsula Lighthouse (near New Ferolle). Each of these places provide distinctly different habitats, and thus host different orchid species. The first of these places is Table Point Ecological Reserve.

This is a site that is very easy to miss. There are no signs or kiosks to let you know you have arrived, only a two-mile (~3 km) rough gravel road that loops off and back onto the main highway. At one time, it may have actually been part of the main highway system, but it was later kept as an access road to the coast when the main highway was rerouted farther east.

Here is a shot of our rental vehicle parked on that rough gravel road. The nearby scrubby vegetation will give you an idea of the type of environment and habitat that the orchids just seemed to love:

What we were looking for at Table Point was an orchid species that attains a height of at least 12 inches (~30 cm) in New England. It is called Platanthera hookeri forma abbreviata (aptly named) or Hooker’s orchid. Here, it barely reaches 3 inches (~7.5 cm) tall! In addition, they grow nestled between and below branches of the local, stunted spruce and low-growing juniper. This is an image of one of the plants before I managed to expose it from under its cover:

These were terribly difficult to spot, and we soon found ourselves on our hands and knees (no easy feat on the sharp limestone gravel and prickly junipers). When we finally found the first one, we soon were able to spot a few more. Exposing them for photography was a delicate task, since the tough juniper and spruce branches had to be pulled aside and temporarily secured. Dead needles and debris had to be removed so that the rounded leaves could also be exposed. Finally, the whole plant could be photographed. Here is one with Walter’s finger above it for scale:

I know they are not much to look at, especially since we were at least a week or so after peak bloom, but it was a new species for me to see and photograph. Here are a few shots of the entire, exposed plants:

While on my hands and knees, I also spotted an exceedingly small Malaxis unifolia or Green Adder’s-mouth orchid. We actually ended up finding two of them. I would later find out that this species had not previously been reported from Table Point:

We stayed at Table Point a couple of hours or at least until we figured that we had seen the best it had to offer. Of course, there were hundreds of groups of Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens or Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids scattered around, but these were barely recognizable, since they were a couple of weeks past bloom.

The next place on our agenda was Philips Garden Trail or Dorset Trail near the historic village of Port au Choix. The gravel trail winds several kilometers through a number of different habitats, including bogs, limestone barrens, and open spruce woods. We had been on the trail only a short distance when I spotted another new orchid for me: Pseudorchis straminea also known as Newfoundland orchid or Vanilla-Scented Bog orchid. This species forms a relatively tall (10-12 inches or 25-30 cm) spike of tiny, cream-colored flowers with a delightful vanilla fragrance. They were quite easy to spot in the low-growing ground cover:

Soon, we climed out of the bog habitat into the limestone barren, where there is scant, scrubby vegetatation. Here, we saw a number of Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens forma planipetalum or Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids. The size of these really did not fit into what I would call the “Large” category, since they were, at most, 3 inches (7.5 cm) tall. Most of them were past peak bloom, but we did find a few that were still quite nice:

The bright, lemon yellow of these flowers was quite exceptional. In addition, these were of the forma planipetalum with almost straight, yellow petals sticking out to either side — a form that we are not used to seeing in the United States.

Nearby, we found a couple of Platanthera huronensis or Green Bog orchids in bloom. These 4-inch tall (10 cm) plants are very similar but more robust than Platanthera aquilonis, another frequently seen orchid, and have a more crowded bloom stem:

At the apex of the loop trail, we found ourselves in an open spruce woods. Although we did see a few plants of Platanthera obtusata or Bluntleaved orchid, they were still in fairly tight bud. We would be photographing some of these in full bloom later on in the trip. What did catch my attention, was thousands of Mitella nuda or Naked miterwort. This is not an orchid, but rather a tiny, delicate wildflower whose petals contain star-like projections of the finest detail:

I had photographed this species years ago, but I am still struck with amazement at the delicate nature of these tiny (1/4 inch or 6 mm) flowers:

These were growing on the thick moss that was literally covering all of the large boulders in the spruce woods. Quite a sight to see…

We still had one last place to visit before we made our way to Plum Point, where we would spend the night. This was a location near the New Ferolle Peninsula Lighthouse. We actually had a bit of trouble finding the correct turnoff from the main highway. We could see the lighthouse in the distance, but none of the gravel roads had signs. We were in the tiny village of New Ferolle, and did not have a map that was detailed enough to successfully navigate the unmarked roads. Finally, we stopped and asked directions from an old gentleman who was walking down the side of the road. With his thick Newfoundland accent, I could hardly understand a word he was saying, but after we turned around, Walter thought he said, “Turn at the first house”. Well there was no place to turn at the first house, so we drove down a bit farther, and sure enough, there was a gravel road leading off to the left. It was lined with lobster traps, so I figured at least it led to the coast.

Well, let me tell you… The road was quite flat, but it was loaded with foot-deep (30 cm) potholes — some were 3 or 4 feet (90-120 cm) wide. And, they were spaced so that most of them could not be avoided. The problem was that there were long stretches of smooth, level road, which lulled us into thinking we were out of pothole territory. Gaining a bit of speed, we would hit another section of bone-jarring potholes. All I can say is that I’m glad we were driving a fairly new rental vehicle that “used” to have good suspension.

We finally arrived, a bit shaken, at the lighthouse and parked nearby on a little grassy pulloff. The wind was ferocious! We were about 50 yards (~45 meters) from waves crashing on the rocky coast. There were tidal pools and some freshwater pools nearer the lighthouse. Next to one of these freshwater pools we saw several bamboo skewers, which were marking the general area where Malaxis brachypoda or White Adder’s-mouth orchid were seen growing a week before by our friends Diane Allen and Paul Hines. Had we not seen the skewers, I might have easily trampled the plants or perhaps not even found them.

These plants are exceedingly small. Fortunately, they were small enough not to be affected by the fierce winds whipping off the sea. They were still in tight bud, and we would have to come back by this site on the return leg of our trip. In any case, I took a shot of one of the plants with my index finger just next to it for scale:

As a side note, there is a nearby location where this species of orchid had been found in the past. They were found on a grassy berm just east of the village of Reef’s Harbour. Diane had told me that some other friends had been to that spot last year, but had not found the plants where they expected to see them. We drove to the spot and had the same experience. The former grassy berm had been invaded by huge Heracleum maximum or cow parsnip plants and had completely shaded out the area. Too bad. It must have been a wonderful site for Malaxis brachypoda.

We finished up at the lighthouse and carefully made our way back down that awful gravel road to the main highway. Once again, we had seen hundreds of orchids and had added two new species to my “life list” of North American native orchids. With the exception of that gorgeous, Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid, these were not the prettiest nor were they the most colorful of the orchids species we had seen, but they were quite unusual, and I had managed to see two species that I had only seen pictures of on the Internet. Tomorrow, we would be taking a break from photographing orchids and taking the ferry from St. Barbe to Blanc Sablon in Quebec. From there, we would travel a short distance into Labrador. Walter had never been to either of those provinces and wanted to add them to his list. For me, Labrador was a new destination, and we were looking forward to the two-hour ferry crossing…

— Jim