The third and last of the three orchid species with winter leaves in our area of South Carolina is Goodyera pubescens or Downy rattlesnake plantain. This is a wonderful orchid whose flowers, from a distance, resemble little white beads popping out of a sturdy, downy stem. Up close, the flowers remind me of lots of little smiling faces with gaping mouths, waiting to be fed.
The stem is not the only downy (pubescent) portion of the plant. While the leaves are glabrous, all parts of the flowers have tiny hair-like appendages or trichomes on their surfaces.
Although the flowers are fascinating, the leaves are the most striking part of the plant:
The delicate white lines and reticulated scroll-work on these blue-green, evergreen leaves is quite a work of art. Coming across this sight in the middle of a dark forest, is always a pleasing surprise. When you are lucky enough to find one of these beauties, there will probably be more nearby. They multiply not only by seed dispersion, but also by sending out stolons. At the end of each of these stolons, a new plant will form and eventually send up a flowering stalk in season. In my experience, it may take as many as four or five years for these new plants to mature.
In our area, this orchid species begins to bloom anywhere from the first week of July, to the first week of August. The flower stems are about 12 inches (30 cm) tall, and each stem can have as many as 50 to 100 flowers. It is not unusual to see this species bloom at the same time as (and sometimes in the immediate vicinity of) Tipularia discolor. Seeing both of these orchids in bloom at the same time, certainly keeps me busy taking photographs. Sometimes, I just sit down in the woods and take in the natural beauty surrounding me.
After being pollinated (in this case, by a halictid bee), the plant soon sets seed. In mid-winter (January 18, 2013), this is how the plant looks:
I feel truly fortunate to live in an area where I can travel, in less than an hour, and can see these natural beauties laid out before me in the forest…
— Jim
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I’ll be checking back frequently. Your photos are always superb and now we get more info about the orchids. I had to use a calculator for the math!
Thanks, Cathy! I appreciate your visit to my new blog. Sorry for the math problem. It’s there as a security measure to make sure I don’t get a lot of spam.
Downy Rattlesnake plantain: why would anyone tag such a beautiful plant with “rattlesnake”? Beautiful pictures and site!
Cool start Jim…and I certainly look forward to more information. I agree with Cathy about the math. Had to take my socks off to figure out the answer! 🙂
Those leaves are striking!
Jim, I try to catch all of your postings and photos from the Native Orchid Conference digest. I look forward to following this blog; is there a way to be notified of new posts? I’ve started a new blog to chronicle a native wildflower ‘Big Year’. http://wvnativeflowers.blogspot.com/?m=0
I’m somewhat obsessed with the orchids, I have photographed most of the common WV orchids and a few rarer ones, ( Showy Lady Slipper, Bentley’s Coralroot) and hope to add the Pale Frilly, Pogonias, and others this season. Wildflower season is still 6-8 weeks away here in WV. Have a great year.