Yesterday, I heard that there were some Spiked Crested Coralroot orchids blooming on the grounds of the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

I think this is one of our most beautiful native orchids, so there was not a chance that I'd pass up the opportunity to photograph it.

This is a natural, non-planted, instance of native orchids growing in an undeveloped area inside the ABG. You never know where these beauties will appear next...

Tags:   Hexalectris spicata Spiked Crested Corallroot orchid orchids wildflowers Atlanta Botanical Garden Atlanta Fulton County Georgia Olympus E-5 Sigma 105mm Olympus 1.4X Teleconverter

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Full day's trip to Stone Mountain State Park in Alleghany County, North Carolina looking for Hexalectris spicata or Crested Coralroot orchid. We were marginally successfull in our quest, finding about a dozen plants of which only 3 had open flowers.

To check out the full trip report, please go to Jim's Blog.

Tags:   Hexalectris spicata Crested Coralroot orchid North Carolina Stone Mountain State Park wildflowers orchids Sony a7rii 90mm Alleghany County

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Walter and I made a day trip to a site where we had seen Hexalectris spicata (Crested coralroot orchid) last year. In my opinion, this is one of the prettiest of our native terrestrial orchids.

They grow in a beautiful glade on the very top of Stone Mountain in Allegheny County, North Carolina. They were in tip top shape, and I've never seen them as pretty as they were, today.

The day started out rather disturbingly with me forgetting my camera bag and Walter finding out (when we got to the top of the mountain after a 2-hour hike in 95 degree temperature) that he had left the image card for his camera at home! Fortunately, I didn't forget my camera which had my 105mm macro lens attached.

We ended up sharing my camera and my tripod and a couple of additional lenses that Walter had managed to bring in his camera bag. All turned out very well except........ When we left the park and had driven an hour down the road, Walter discovered that he had lost his cell phone somewhere in the park! No way were we going back to look for a camera in the woods (after another 2-hour hike to the top).

"So fair and foul a day I have not seen." (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3) Shakespeare

When we arrived home, there was a phone message that indicated a woman had found the cell phone somewhere on the trail.

All's well that ends well... (The name of another Shakespeare play). ;-))

Tags:   Stone Mountain State Park North Carolina Allegheny County orchids Hexalectris spicata Crested coralroot orchid mountaintop woods wildflowers Olymps E-510 ZD Zuiko 50mm

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Walter, Alan, and I began a very busy field trip day at a location found in Stan Bentley's "Native Orchids of the Southern Appalachian Mountains". The site, which is on the top of a massive, rounded granite bald, is a strange one for Hexalectris spicata, since this species generally prefers basic soils -- soils rich in Calcium or Magnesium. Granite is not known for providing such a mineral soil.

Having said that, on July 16, there were dozens of Hexalectris spicata in evidence on the mountain top. The odd thing about these this year, is that on any one bloom stem, about 50% of the flowers (the lower ones) were past bloom and some already producing seed capsules, while the top half of the flowers were still in tight bud. Only a very few single flowers were open. That is why I don't show any full-length shots of bloom stems in this series of images...

Tags:   Hexalectris spicata Crested Coralroot orchid orchids wildflowers native orchids terrestrial ochids Olympus E-5 Sigma 105mm macro Olympus 1.4X Teleconverter Stone Mountain State Park Roaring Gap Allegheny County North Carolina

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On the second and third legs of our Texas wildflower photography adventure, we found this beautiful native orchid, Giant Crested Coralroot orchid.

For the full trip report, please go to Jim's Blog.

Tags:   Giant Crested Coralroot orchid Jeff Davis County Ft. Davis Davis Mountains Texas Sony a7rii 90mm orchids wildflowers Hexalectris grandiflora

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