Tiny Orchids
Hannah Wilhelm ~ 2008-06-10
While walking the Wells Reserve trails this spring, naturalist Paul Miliotis discovered a tiny but beautiful orchid hiding under a skunk cabbage leaf. A group of us we went back to see the orchid, called early coralroot, Corallorhiza trifida, which was almost invisible before we got down on our knees on the boardwalk, and take a picture of its short yellowish stalks with tongue-like flowers. No leaves were visible, and C. trifida doesn’t really need them, because it is saprophytic, meaning that all its nourishment comes through symbiosis with the mycorrhizal fungi that form a vast underground network through healthy forest soils. Even plants that get energy through photosynthesis, such as oak trees and grapevines, gain resilience through their linkages to mycorrhizae. I was surprised but delighted by this find. Although C. trifida is a persistent plant (it is found in moist forests throughout the Northern US and Canada), it is rarely seen.
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