Native Orchid Conference – Iron Spring Bog, Lake Itasca, Minnesota — 2014-07-15

Walter Ezell and I made the trip from Winnipeg, Manitoba through customs to Lake Itasca, Minnesota. We had used Winnipeg as our headquarters: renting a vehicle and spending the previous 9 days in the Churchill, Manitoba area with a fine group of ten other people. If you wish, you can go back and see the previous blog entries for that trip.

The trip to Lake Itasca was for the purpose of attending this year’s symposium of the Native Orchid Conference. The link takes you to our information page where a membership form is available. Each year, this organization has a symposium in an “orchid hot-spot” somewhere in North America. This one would highlight many of the northern orchid species such as:

Malaxis paludosa (Bog Adder’s-mouth orchid)
Malaxis brachypoda (White Adder’s-mouth orchid)
Malaxis unifolia (Green Adder’s-mouth orchid)
Platanthera praeclara (Western Prairie Fringed orchid)
Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata (Scentbottle orchid)
Platanthera aquilonis (Northern Green orchid)
Platanthera huronensis (Huron Green orchid)
Platanthera orbiculata (Large Round-leaved orchid)
Platanthera obtusata (Blunt-leaf orchid)
Platanthera coeloglossum (Frog orchid)
Platanthera flava var. herbiola (Northern Tubercled orchid)
Neottia cordata (Heart-leaved Twayblade orchid)
Amerorchis rotundifolia (Round-leaf orchid)
Liparis loeselii (Loesel’s Twayblade orchid)
Cypripedium reginae (Showy Lady’s-slipper orchid)
Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens (Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid)
Calopogon tuberosus (Common Grass-pink orchid)
Corallorhiza trifida (Early Coralroot orchid)
Goodyera repens (Lesser Rattlesnake plantain orchid)
Goodyera tesselata (Checkered Rattlesnake plantain orchid)

Quite the list! …all of which we saw in bloom!

For me, the most important one was Malaxis paludosa or Bog Adder’s-mouth orchid, which I had never photographed. The plants are only a couple of inches (5 cm) tall, at most, and are extremely hard to spot against the similarly colored Sphagnum moss. My guess is that the flowers are no more than 1/16 inch (~2 mm) tall:

Here are a couple of additional shots of this tiny, tiny orchid:

I made a feeble attempt to photograph the whole plant from a distance, but it blended in so well with the Sphagnum moss, that it just disappeared in the image.

Another orchid species that I had wanted to get better shots of, is Malaxis brachypoda or White Adder’s-mouth orchid. We ended up finding dozens of this diminutive orchid scattered about the wooded bog. Being a Malaxis, it is quite similar to Bog Adder’s-mouth orchid, but the plants and flowers are a bit larger, ranging from 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) tall:

Iron Spring Bog showed me a different side of “bogs” than I had seen before. My experience with northern bogs took me to open areas with few if any trees. This bog was completely enclosed by a rather dense, mature Spruce forest. Being in a Spruce forest, there was very little ground cover except for those dense mats of Sphagnum moss.

There was one additional Malaxis orchid species found in the bog — the much more common and widespread, Malaxis unifolia or Green Adder’s-mouth orchid. This plant has flowers which are around 1/8 inch (~3 mm) wide:

Here are a few full-length shots of the plants. Note the single, clasping leaf about half-way up the stem:

We even discovered one plant with two leaves! Although 99.99% of the plants will have just a single leaf, a two-leaf plant can occasionally be found:

In the same area, were some really tall (about 3 feet or 1 meter), spiky green plants with lots of green flowers. Upon close inspection, these were identified as Platanthera huronensis or Huron Green orchid. This one is difficult to tell apart from its close cousin, Platanthera aquilonis, but there are some subtle characteristics that can be seen. In the shot below, note that the yellow pollinia are falling out of their enclosures (on their own) onto the stigma, and this will result in self-pollination of the flowers. This characteristic is frequently seen with Platanthera aquilonis, but less frequently seen with Platanthera huronensis:

Another “cousin” to these spiky, green orchids is Platanthera dilata var. dilatata or Scentbottle orchid. This one is aptly named, since the sweet fragrance of the flowers is evident from quite a distance:

I knew there would be some of the tiny, Neottia cordata or Heart-leaved Twayblade orchid around, but I was able to find only a single, green one. This orchid species has a flower color ranging from green to dark, brownish-red. If you look closely at the ovaries behind the flowers, you will see that some of the seed capsules have already dehisced or scattered their seeds. This is one of a few orchid species that keeps its flowers even after the seed capsules have ripened and split open:

We ended up spending several hours in Iron Spring Bog. I had already decided that I would return when most of the group would be going to a site where Platanthera praeclara or Western Prairie Fringed orchid was growing. My experience with the magnificent flowers of that species which we had recently seen in the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie, made me want to stick with the wonderfully varied species we were currently finding in Iron Spring Bog.

On our way out of the bog, I passed a very nice group of Asclepias syriaca or Common Milkweed. The strongly scented flowers are an insect magnet, and it’s quite easy to find bees, beetles, ants, and butterflies swarming all over the rounded clusters of flowers:

After photographing the insects on the Common Milkweed flowers, we walked back up the trail to the car. As we drove back to the Douglas Lodge headquarters at Lake Itasca, we passed over the Mississippi River.

Only a mile or so from the headwaters of the Mississippi, the view of the river was startling:

It would have been quite easy to jump across the narrow expanse of this mighty river.

Iron Spring Bog provided us with a number of splendid orchid species that are not seen except in the northern states. I have to thank the local Minnesota native and conference chairman, Robert Freeman, for his leadership in setting up this superb symposium and field trips. Rob’s field experience and prior legwork made it possible for some of us to see these rare orchids for the first time. Thanks also go to the other conference personnel who came up early to help Rob locate the plants and check out the venue. I’m thinking of Mark Rose and David McAdoo, both long-time members and past-presidents of the organization. Without them, the Native Orchid Conference would just be a twinkle in our eyes.

The next field trip for me, would be Pennington Bog, near Pennington, Minnesota. There were a few orchid species there that I just had to see for myself. Stay tuned to this space…

–Jim