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Yellow and Orange Wildflower Gallery

Bilateral Symmetry - Orchid Family

Orchid plants have a single stem.  The flowers can be singular or clustered in a raceme or spiral.  Some orchids have many leaves, some have only a few leaves, some have none.

There is great variety in orchid flowers, but generally they have one lip, two petals, and three sepals.

1) The lip (labellum) is a modified petal, often quite obvious, and a different color than the other petals.  It is located in the lower position because the pedicel (flower stem) is twisted 180°.  It is the landing site for insects.

2) The two petals are above or to each side of the lip.

3) The three sepals often look like petals.

Orchidaceae - Orchid family

Ivory Lady's-slipper (Purloined Slipper) Cypripedium kentuckiense

Flower has a lip with a 2 1/2" long yellow pouch, and two narrow curly maroon petals to each side.  There are three maroon, petal-like sepals: one above the pouch and two conjoined below.  There is a leaf-like bract near the flower.  3-5 leaves are about 8" long.  Plant grows to about 28" tall in moist ravines in beech dominated hardwood forests.  Blooms in April.

Currently a candidate for inclusion on the U.S. List of Endangered and Threatened Species.

Photos taken by Sonnia Hill in Sabine County, Texas, April 2005

(Native of Texas)

Orchidaceae - Orchid family

Crested Fringed Orchid Platanthera cristata

Tiny flower has a spur and a 1/4" long lip with up to 80 flowers in the cluster (raceme).  3-4 leaves and several bracts on the stem.  Pollinated by bumblebees.  Plant grows to about 3 feet tall in moist sand and acid soil in the Pineywoods, Big Thicket and also northeast Texas in Morris County.  Blooms June-July.

Photos taken by Sonnia Hill in Kisatchie National Forest, Vernon Parish, Louisiana, July 2005

(Native of Texas)

Orchidaceae - Orchid family

"Green" Texas Purple Spike Hexalectris warnockii

Green flower is about 1" wide and 3/4" long.  The variation is green (devoid of pigment) instead of maroon and yellow (Texas Purple Spike).  An extremely rare plant, it has only been documented in a single location in Dallas County, Texas.  Lip has two lateral lobes (hood-like) and a middle lobe with five waxy crests and a tip.  No leaves.  This plant does not produce chlorophyll.  It is myco-heterotrophic, acquiring its nutrients through a symbiotic relationship with a mycorrhizal fungus.  Plant grows to about 16" tall under open canopy of oak-juniper trees.

Budding photo taken by Sonnia Hill in Dallas County, Texas, July 2005

Flower photo taken by Jo Spencer in Dallas County, Texas, June 2006

(Native of Texas)

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