Day 10 — Orchids on the “Rock” — Newfoundland — 2013-07-12

We actually had rain last night, the first rain of our trip. It was still misting a bit when we ate breakfast, but it cleared up soon after. We have been blessed with great weather. Last night at supper with Diane and Paul, we decided to meet back up at Pistolet Bay Provincial Park Campground where they would lead us to their “secret” site for one of the rarest orchids in Newfoundland, Neottia (Listera) borealis or Northern Twayblade orchid. I’ll remind you, gentle reader, that all of the North American Listera species have been subsumed into the genus, Neottia. I’ll leave it to someone more knowledgeable than I to explain this strange nomenclature change.

As far as the Northern Twayblade orchid is concerned, they want to keep the area secret to protect the plants. This particular site was discovered relatively recently, and we were told that the site contains dozens of plants scattered in the mossy, spruce woods.

However, we wanted to check out that Corallorhiza trifida site near the gate at the campground, so we checked out of the Inn and arrived at that site thirty minutes early. We had agreed to meet Diane and Paul at that spot at 9:00 am. The mosquitoes were already up and about, so we slathered on our bug repellent and wandered over to the ditch at the edge of the woods. I made a methodical search, pushing aside the 2-foot (30 cm) tall spruce saplings that were growing in large numbers in the ditch. Within a short distance of where I began the search, I found a huge cluster of Corallorhiza trifida:

I counted thirty flowering stems! That is one very nice patch of orchids. Paul and Diane drove up about the time I was taking these images, and they both remarked at the size of the cluster. Here is another shot a bit closer:

Yes, that is a slug at the top of one of the flower stems! Seems that they really like orchids, and they manage to do quite a bit of damage, as well. We had seen the damage that slugs and snails had done on the Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids down at Cape St. George…

Well, it was time to move on, so we packed our camera gear and headed off down the road to our “secret” spot.

It was still early when we arrived, and we soon realized that the mosquitoes would be a problem, so we slathered on our repellent, donned our camera gear, and headed off into the woods. Paul and Diane had been to this site fairly recently and had marked the locations for the orchids in their GPS devices, so we had little trouble finding them.

I had previously mentioned that I had been unable to locate both Platanthera obtusata and Neottia (Listera) cordata in bloom, so she took no time in pointing out both species soon after we entered the woods. There were quite a few of each species growing, in full bloom, in the damp moss. Here are some shots of Platanthera obtusata or Bluntleaved orchid:

Note the pollinia stuck to the sepals of one of the flowers on the left.

Nearby, were a number of Neottia (Listera) cordata or Heartleaf Twayblade orchids in full bloom:

Soon, we heard Diane and Paul yell that they had found the first of the rare, Neottia (Listera) borealis or Northern Twayblade orchids which were still in bloom. They weren’t in peak bloom — we were late by about a week, but I wasn’t complaining, since the ones we saw previously (down in the Killdevil Campground area) were in seed. So, Walter and I set about getting a good position on the plants. Here are a few shots of the best of the dozen or so that we managed to locate:

Diane had joked that the price for me to see these orchids was that I find one of them at this location that they had not yet discovered. Well, I did just that! They were not easy to spot in the similarly colored mosses and other leafy vegetation in the area.

We finished with our photography and slowly found our way out of the woods and back to our vehicles. Diane and Paul had graciously prepared a wonderful lunch (they were always doing something nice for us), and we wasted no time in digging in. Here are a few shots of us after our wonderful lunch. I know, I know, posed shots often come across looking like a police line-up:

Left to right: Walter Ezell, me, Diane Allen, and Paul Hines. Since unposed shots are usually preferred, here are a couple of those:

It was now time for Walter and me to be on our way. We had a good distance to travel to our evening accommodations at Plum Point. This is the last time we would be spending with Diane and Paul, and I was sorry to have to part. They would be spending more time in the northern reaches of the island while we were retracing our steps back to Channel Port aux Basques where we would be catching the ferry in less than a week.

On the drive back to Plum Point, I saw a patch of blue at the edge of the road and had to stop. I didn’t know what these wildflowers were, but they were quite attractive, so I took a few shots. Most of the flowers were blue or purple, but I also found a pink one and a pure white one. I would later discover that this was an invasive plant from Europe called, Echium vulgare or Viper’s Bugloss:

I suppose all invasives don’t have to be ugly — this is a rather attractive wildflower. In fact, that is probably how it got here in the first place — being grown in a garden for ornamental purposes but later escaping into the wild. It is called an “invasive” rather than an “escapee” because it will tend to crowd out native plants to their detriment. Enough said about that…

Just before arriving at our destination for the evening, I began to see clumps of blue flowers in the gravel just next to the highway. Eventually, I had to stop to check them out. Turns out, they were large clumps of a wildflower we had seen earlier in a stunted form and in small numbers — these clumps were very showy. This plant is called Campanula rotundifolia or Harebell, and it is found at just about every location we visited:

We finally made it to our motel in Plum Point, tired but satisfied that we had seen a number of really nice orchid species and had spent the day with a wonderful couple who made us feel right at home, and who made us feel like we were already close friends.

Tomorrow, we would revisit the Malaxis brachypoda site at the New Ferolle Lighthouse, hoping that they would now be in full bloom. Afterwards, we would make another stop by Point Riche, near Port au Choix to check out the scenery before making our way back to Rocky Harbour for the night …

— Jim