Day 14 — Orchids on the “Rock” — Newfoundland — 2013-07-16

Today is our last day for orchid hunting in Newfoundland. Tomorrow, early, we will have to be at the ferry dock in Channel Port-aux-Basques to catch the six-hour crossing back to the mainland of Nova Scotia.

We rise early and drive the short distance to J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park. This is where, almost two weeks earlier, we searched unsuccessfully for Platanthera orbiculata var. lehorsii, the rare and shortened form of the Lesser Pad-leaved orchid. This variety was named after Mathurin Le Hors, a French botanist who lived in Saint-Pierre, an island off the coast of Newfoundland.

At the time of our first visit to Cheeseman, almost two weeks earlier, we had a single location for this orchid species given to us by Tom Nelson. He had found several plants in full bloom in July of 2007, but we could not find them at the specified location. I suspected that they had been there, but only in bud and not easily seen in the thick bog grass.

Today, we had an additional site given to us by Diane Allen, and she had seen them coming into bloom a week earlier. We would check out both sites.

Not long after we took to the trail at Cheeseman, we arrived at the first site. It is a raised bog on top of a limestone ridge, and it was surrounded by rocky outcrops. It is not large, as bogs go; moreover, it is long and narrow. Diane had told us to enter the bog and walk until we found the short treeline encroaching on the right — begin looking there. We found the short treeline and began combing the area. Nothing is easy to find in these bogs if it is not growing above the foot-tall grasses:

We looked for about fifteen minutes and were about to give up when I spotted a creamy green flower stalk nestled deep in the grass. We had finally found what we were looking for. In order to get a clean shot, we exposed the flowers by moving aside the bog grasses. Here is what we saw:

As frequently happens when looking for a species for the first time, we soon found more of them nearby:

In total, we found ten blooming plants in that area. Odd thing, they were all growing in a fairly straight line running from west to east. I cannot begin to guess why that was the case. Here is a closeup of the freshest one we found at this bog site:

On our way back out of the bog, I spotted a large, wet area that made a great habitat for a carnivorous plant we had seen a lot of at Cheeseman — Drosera intermedia or Spoonleaf sundew:

Having finished with the photography at this site, we moved on to Tom Nelson’s bog site where he had photographed Platanthera orbiculata var. lehorsii in 2007. Here is the view from the trail of the wooden steps leading in to the raised bog:

Once we arrived, I began a methodical search of the small bog. I made a grid search of the entire area of the center portions of the bog, finding nothing of interest. Giving up, I walked to the south edge of the bog where I had seen a few Platanthera blephariglottis or White Fringed orchids growing, and immediately spotted three Platanthera orbiculata var. lehorsii in the thick grass — all three growing in a row – west to east. Go figure… Tom had been right! They were here, after all. One of them was the largest that we had seen at Cheeseman — but still only 8-10 inches (20-25 cm) tall:

We had accomplished more than what we had set out to accomplish on this trip. Of the 40+ orchid species found in Newfoundland, I had hoped to photograph 30 of them. Several of Newfoundland’s orchid species would not be in bloom for another month, and at least one of them, Calypso bulbosa or Fairy Slipper orchid, was finished blooming by the time we arrived. Now, the total we had photographed had risen to 35, including the hybrid fringed orchids. I considered this to be a resounding success!

Walking back along the trail to the car, I spotted a number of white flowers poking above the grass in a nearby bog. I recognized these as Platanthera blephariglottis or White Fringed orchid. They were now in full bloom, so I wasted no time in getting a few shots of them. Here is what I saw from the trail:

Here are a few close up shots:

This brings an end to what was my long-standing wish to see the orchids of Newfoundland. In our travels from the southern tip of Newfoundland to the northernmost craggy coast, we were able to get a taste of the culture that will remain with us for a lifetime. We kept to the west coast except for one excursion across the island to Tilt Cove, and in doing so, we saw the raw coastline and many sleepy fishing villages.

The landscape is starkly wild and surprisingly clean and unspoiled. More often than not, we did not notice the hand of man except for the highway and an occasional power line. We traveled many of the rural roads and not once did we come across a discarded sofa, an old matress, bags of trash, or a stack of worn-out tires beside the road as is often found in the states. The people are unapologetically and fiercly independent, and that is quite refreshing in a time when everyone is trying to outbest their neighbors.

In a few years, I’d love to revisit Newfoundland, and perhaps concentrate more on photographing the wildlife. We saw several Moose along the way, but not close enough to get a decent photograph. I’d also like to see the Puffin, the provincial bird of Newfoundland. There’s always so much to do and so little time.

There is much to see and taste on the “Rock”. But most of all, I’ll remember the warmth of the people — always friendly (even if I had trouble understanding their thick native accent) and willing to sit down and spin a yarn…

— Jim