Native Orchids Blog

[ronaldhanko]

I've started a new blog on Native orchids of the Pacific Northwest. If you're interested it's here and I'll be posting to it as opportunity allows.

Native Orchids of the Pacific Northwest and the Canadian Rockies

[Justin Parkkonen]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

[Justin Parkkonen]

I've always wondered, and I guess this is a good place to ask: Do these temperate orchids live long? Obviously they recede during winter, but does the same individual plant live for say, 20 years or more, as some of the tropical epiphytic orchids do here in Florida? Thank you for your insights!

[prem]

Ronald, this is great!

Justin, to answer your question, each of these terrestrials is a perennial, so there is quite a potential for longevity...it's just the above-ground part that dies off yearly back to a longer-lived underground root.

---Prem

[ronaldhanko]

Justin and Prem,
Maybe Prem has some experience of this, but some of these native orchids behave rather strangely, especially the Coralroots. One year you'll find a lot of them and another year hardly any, nor do they always seem to be in exactly the same place where they appeared the year before.

[xristie9]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

Justin and Prem,
Maybe Prem has some experience of this, but some of these native orchids behave rather strangely, especially the Coralroots. One year you'll find a lot of them and another year hardly any, nor do they always seem to be in exactly the same place where they appeared the year before.

So they bloom, yust once in their lifetime, or yust once in several years... hm... Is it the same for all species in your area?

[ronaldhanko]

Originally Posted by xristie9

So they bloom, yust once in their lifetime, or yust once in several years... hm... Is it the same for all species in your area?

No, that wasn't quite what I meant - I believe it's more that they can lie dormant and then rebloom.

[prem]

Ronald,
yes...coralroots seem to bloom sporadically (probably due to the fact that relying on a fungus exclusively to get all their nutrients is not a very efficient way to get nutrition). Hence, they must take several years to gather up strength for the next time they bloom.

Also, for some of the coralroots, they have fairly large underground roots, so one 'plant' may give rise to a number of flowering stems one year and a few the next, but they are all from one underground root.

---Prem

[ronaldhanko]

Originally Posted by prem

Ronald,
yes...coralroots seem to bloom sporadically (probably due to the fact that relying on a fungus exclusively to get all their nutrients is not a very efficient way to get nutrition). Hence, they must take several years to gather up strength for the next time they bloom.

Also, for some of the coralroots, they have fairly large underground roots, so one 'plant' may give rise to a number of flowering stems one year and a few the next, but they are all from one underground root.

---Prem

That makes sense, Prem. Thanks for the info.
Ron