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What's news in nature
 | | The distinctive leaves of Crane-fly orchid appear in late fall and last until spring. Most leaves are green with purple spots, but the leaves can vary from solid dark purple (inset, lower) to solid green. The underside of the leaf is always a beet color (inset, upper), making the leaves distinct from other green plants found in the winter Highland woods. (Recorder photo by Charles Garratt) |
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WARM SPRINGS - Winter in the Highlands is a difficult time for plants and animals. But winter also offers some opportunities to plants adapted to the cold.
Two of those winter-adapted Highland natives are orchids. Puttyroot orchid, Aplectrum hyemale, sends up a single, green and white striped leaf in the fall. The distinctive leaf lasts through the winter and is wilting away when the plant blooms in May.
Puttyroot is fairly common in the Highlands. Large patches are scattered throughout the Highlands. In Bath County, Hidden Valley and the Lake Moomaw area are both good places to find Puttyroot leaves in winter.
Crane-fly orchid, named for its insect-like flowers, is very difficult to find in late July and early August when it blooms. But the green with purple spotted leaves of Crane-fly orchid, Tipularia discolor, can be found in deep woods even when there is some snow on the ground.
Most Crane-fly leaves are green with raised, dark-purple spots. However, the leaves can range in color from solid green to solid purple. One trait that doesn't change is the underside of the leaf which is always beet-red.
The red color of the underside of the leaf helps the leaf to trap all of the winter sunshine reaching the forest floor during the short days. The leaves even benefit from the weak light penetrating through up to a couple of inches of ice or snow.
Puttyroot and Crane-fly orchids have hibernal or winter leaves. The leaves of both plants have parallel, longitudinal veins.
Crane-fly orchid prefers deep woodland habitats and winter, when the trees are bare, is the best time to gather sunlight. Puttyroot is also found in summer shaded habitats, but normally closer to the edge of woodlands.
Large patches of Crane-fly orchids are found in many counties neighboring Bath and Highland county. But so far, only a few small clumps are known in Bath and Highland. There is plenty of the acidic, woodland habitat the orchid likes, so the scarcity is probably more a factor of how hard the flowers are to see in summer and how few people go orchid hunting in winter than any actual shortage of the species.
Crane-fly orchid, when it is found, is often around or near beech trees. However, Crane-fly orchid can be found where no beech trees are in sight and plenty of beech trees thrive in the Highlands without a sign of Crane-fly orchid in the neighborhood.
Winter is the best time to find these two native orchids. While beautiful, the spikes of flowers of both plants blend well into the surrounding forest floor even though the spikes can be nearly two feet tall. Mark the location of any leaves found in winter and return in spring for the Puttyroot and in summer for Crane-fly orchid.
- Charles Garratt
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