Native Orchid Conference – Pennington Bog, Pennington, Minnesota — 2014-07-17

For the second field trip day of the Native Orchid Conference symposium in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, we chose to go to Pennington Bog, near the small town of Pennington (also known as Cass River), Minnesota. The closest city is Bemidji, Minnesota.

Although it was not on the original list of field trip areas, Rob Freeman, our field trip coordinator and conference chairman had obtained the necessary permit from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for a small group to visit the bog. Walter Ezell and I would have been in the group that went to the prairie site for Platanthera praeclara or Western Prairie Fringed orchid, but having just come from Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie, where they were blooming in profusion, we decided to substitute another field trip site, instead.

To get there, we had to travel the “Lady Slipper Scenic Byway” for several miles.

The road sign uses a depiction of Cypripedium reginae or Showy Lady’s-slipper orchid for its logo, since it is the state flower of Minnesota. What a beautiful design for a sign. Odd, though, that we did not see a single Showy Lady’s-slipper orchid along the highway. Turns out that they had all been removed so that the road could be widened. They were dug by the Minnesota DNR and placed in a special area of Pennington Bog until the roadwork is finished, at which point, the orchids will be replanted. That takes a huge outlay of energy and committment.

There is a newly paved parking area across the road from the bog, and it has parking spaces for dozens of automobiles. There is even a very nice boardwalk in the process of being built to take visitors over sensitive areas of the bog.

We parked, gathered our camera gear, and headed across the road to the spot where we would enter the bog. As I mentioned, the area is quite fragile and sensitive, so we made every effort to walk in the foot prints of the others ahead of us. This bog, as was the bog we visited two days previous, wholly included in a dense Spruce, balsam fir, and white cedar forest. At times, the going was quite tough, forcing us to climb over tree fall and to dodge the very wet areas. However, even as we entered the bog, we could see orchids scattered here and there on the forest floor.

There were large populations of the common, Platanthera obtusata or Blunt-leaf orchid. However, they were widely scattered in the Sphagnum moss. What I really wanted to see was Platanthera orbiculata or Large Round-leaf orchid. A group that had visited the bog a few days before had found several plants of this species in full bloom.

Farther into the bog, we found the first signs of Calopogon tuberosus or Common Grass-pink orchid. This is a fairly common orchid species, being found in every state and province in eastern North America:

I even found one plant that appeared (to me) to be the uncommon, Calopogon oklahomensis or Oklahoma Grass-pink orchid. They have been reported from Minnesota, but I cannot verify that I photographed that particular species here:

Nearby, we saw several tall green spikes of Platanthera aquilonis or Northern Green orchid:

Walking (I use that term very loosely) farther into the bog, we spotted several Cypripedium reginae or Showy Lady’s-slipper orchids glowing in the dappled shade:

At this point, several of us split from the group while we were searching for the Large Round-leaf orchid. I accidentally stumbled (literally) upon a couple of Corallorhiza trifida or Early Coralroot orchids in full bloom. I was quite surprised, since I had been seeing quite a few of them in seed. These flowering ones were in pretty good shape, so I decided to get an image:

Occasionally, we would see an Amerorchis rotundifolia or Round-leaf orchid, but these were mostly past peak bloom or already in seed, so I decided not to photograph any of them.

A bit farther in to the bog, I saw a piece of pink flagging tape in the distance. I knew that there would be something of interest at this spot. I reached the spot and looked around and found something quite unexpected — Liparis loeselii or Loesel’s Twayblade orchid in full bloom!:

While I was photographing these gorgeous orchids, another of our group hooted that she had finally found the Platanthera orbiculata or Large Round-leaf orchid. She had found three plants in full bloom, and got busy setting up her camera equipment to take photographs. I finished with the Loesel’s Twayblade orchids and wandered 30 feet (10 meters) over to the Large Round-leaf orchids:

Although a bit smaller than the ones we had seen recently in North Carolina, they were still perfectly formed and in full bloom:

Not too far away, we found an orchid species that we had seen in Iron Spring Bog a couple of days prior to this trip — Malaxis brachypoda or White Adder’s-mouth orchid:

We wandered around a bit more, then decided to go back to the parking lot where we were told we could find Goodyera tesselata or Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain orchid. On the way out of the bog, we saw quite a few Goodyera repens or Lesser Rattlesnake Plantain orchids, but they were still in tight bud. The beautifully reticulated leaves, however, proved to be great subjects for photography:

We left the bog and walked back up the road to the parking lot. A few in the group had already opened their boxed lunches (provided by the organization for our field trips) and were in the shade of a large group of pine trees just west of the parking lot. Here and there, I saw flagging tape on the ground and at eye level on the pine trees. Beneath this flagging tape were the last of the orchid species that I would be photographing on this trip — Goodyera tesselata or Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain orchid. The pattern in the leaves has much less contrast than the leaves of its cousin, Goodyera repens. However the plants and leaves as well as the flowers are about twice as large:

Note how the flowers tend to be secund or occupy only one side of the bloom stem:

Well, this final field trip brings to an end the Native Orchid Conference symposium for us. Tomorrow morning, Walter and I will leave for Winnipeg where we will return our rental vehicle at the airport and fly back to our home in Greenville, South Carolina. Once again, many thanks are owed to Rob Freeman and the others who scouted out these fantastic field trip spots for us. To see and photograph so many orchid and wildflower species in just a couple of days is almost unbelievable. Now, we are looking forward to next year’s NOC symposium in New Hampshire. Don’t miss it — go to the NOC website, click on the “Membership” tab, and fill out a membership form so that you can join the others of us who share the passion of wild, North American native orchids…

–Jim