March 2001 North American Native Orchid Journal

NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE ORCHID JOURNAL

__________________________________ Volume 7 March Number 1 2001

a quarterly devoted to the orchids of North America

published by the NORTH AMERICAN

NATIVE ORCHID ALLIANCE

* * * * * *

* * * * * * IN THIS ISSUE:

A STATUS REPORT ON THE NATIVE AND NATURALIZED ORCHIDACEAE OF COLLIER, MIAMI-DADE, AND MONROE COUNTIES, FLORIDA….and more!

The North American Native Orchid Journal (ISSN 1084-7332) is an annual publication devoted to promoting interest and knowledge of the native orchids of North America. A limited number of the print version of each issue of the Journal are available upon request and electronic versions are available to all interested persons or institutions free of charge. The Journal welcomes article of any nature that deal with native or introduced orchids that are found growing wild in North America, primarily north of Mexico, although articles of general interest concerning Mexican species will welcome. Requests for either print or electronic copies should be sent to the editor: Paul Martin Brown, 10896 SW 90th Terrace, Ocala, FL 34481 or via email at [email protected].

NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE ORCHID JOURNAL

Volume 7 March Number 1 2001

CONTENTS NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

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A STATUS REPORT ON THE NATIVE AND NATURALIZED ORCHIDACEAE

OF COLLIER, MIAMI-DADE, AND MONROE COUNTIES, FLORIDA

Roger L. Hammer 3

PHLISTINES The Slow Empiricist

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RECENT TAXONOMIC AND DISTRIBUTIONAL NOTES FROM

FLORIDA 9. Paul Martin Brown

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6th ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE ORCHID CONFERENCE

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LOOKING FORWARD: June 2001

inside back cover

Unless otherwise credited, all drawings in this issue are by Stan Folsom

Color Plates: Plate 1, page 105 Epidendrum nocturnum, Polyrrhiza lindenii Plate 2, page 106 Calopogon multiflorus, Oeceoclades maculata Plate 3, page 107 Campylocentrum pachyrrhizum, Spiranthes torta Plate 4, page 108 Bletia purpurea, Galeandra bicarinata Plate 5, page 109 Habenaria quinqueseta, Eulophia alta Plate 6, page 110 Cyrtopodium punctatum, Encyclia tampensis Plate 7, page 111 Oncidium undulatum, Vanilla barbellata Plate 8, page 112 Vanilla phaeantha, Sacoila lanceolata var. paludicola Plate 9, page 113 Habenaria odontopetala forma heatonii; Triphora trianthophora forma caerulea Plate 10, page 114 Sacoila lanceolata var. paludicola forma aurea The opinions expressed in the Journal are those of the authors. Scientific

articles may be subject to peer review and popular articles will be examined for both accuracy and scientific content.

Volume 7, number 1, pages 1-114; issued March 20, 2001. Copyright 2001 by the North American Native Orchid Alliance, Inc.

Cover: Bulbophyllum pachyrrachis by Stan Folsom

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NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

It is not often that the Journal can present a lengthy piece devoted to a single subject. This issue contains Roger Hammer's extensive work on the orchids of south Florida. I am sure you will find it both interesting and informative reading. As the main thrust of the 2001 orchid season is coming upon us in many parts of North America, field work will commence and new discoveries will be made. Please consider writing an article for the Journal about your work. I would like to devote the December issue to a series of "what I did during the field season" articles. Your writings need not be lengthy, but will be of interest to all. Deadline for submission would be October 15th. The coming year will be of exceptional interest to all North American orchidists as it will see the publication of several new books on the subject. The June issue will have an article by Ron Coleman on North American native orchid books and notes on several upcoming publications. Full information including schedule and accommodations for the conference in September is in this issue. Although we will not have as many

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species to see in flower the primary thrust of the conference will be education through the speakers' programs and workshops. I know many of you feel that all Spiranthes really look alike - here will be an opportunity to really see them together and learn the differences. Once you take the time to look at them carefully they really are very different one from another. Please remember to send all registrations to PO Box 759, Acton, Maine 04001. Paul Martin Brown Editor PO Box 772121 Ocala, FL 34477 October - May PO Box 759 Acton, Maine 04001 Late May - September

Hammer: A STATUS REPORT ON THE NATIVE AND NATURALIZED ORCHIDACEAE OF COLLIER, MIAMI-DADE,

AND MONROE COUNTIES, FLORIDA

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A STATUS REPORT ON THE NATIVE AND NATURALIZED

ORCHIDACEAE OF COLLIER, MIAMI-DADE, AND MONROE COUNTIES, FLORIDA

Roger L. Hammer

The purpose of this report is to offer a comprehensive account of the known status of the native and naturalized orchids found, or historically found, in Collier, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. The categories in which these orchids are placed do not reflect their status as endangered or threatened species in the state of Florida, but merely reflect the author�s opinion regarding how common these species are in their respective natural habitats within the range of this report. Some species were undoubtedly rare when first discovered in Florida and remain rare today. Collecting and habitat destruction have both played significant roles in the demise of many species. This report only addresses the status of the listed species within the three southernmost counties in Florida. It is the author�s sincere hope that this report will give regulatory



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agencies and concerned orchidophiles a better understanding of southern Florida�s orchid flora.

The author owes a sincere expression of gratitude to Keith Bradley, Paul Martin Brown, George Gann, Chuck McCartney, and Dick Wunderlin for their contributions to this report. CATEGORY DEFINITIONS VERY RARE: Species with extremely small populations and possibly in imminent danger of extirpation or extinction. RARE: Species that are rarely encountered in the proper habitat, although populations appear to be stable. UNCOMMON: Species that are infrequently encountered, but sometimes locally abundant, in the proper habitat. COMMON: Species that are frequently encountered in the proper habitat. PRESUMED EXTIRPATED: Species that historically occurred in Collier, Miami-Dade, and/or Monroe county but are no longer extant. Some may still occur elsewhere in the state. NATURALIZED EXOTICS AND LOCAL ESCAPES: Non-native species that have either escaped cultivation or otherwise arrived in Florida abetted by man. Naturalized exotics are those species that have invaded native plant communities. ERRONEOUS REPORTS: Species reported either in error or as a hoax.



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Nomenclature and common names generally follow Wunderlin (1998). Synonyms are listed, where appropriate, to avoid taxonomic confusion.

VERY RARE BASIPHYLLAEA CORALLICOLA (Small) Ames Florida range: Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Common name: Carter�s orchid.

J. J. Carter was the first to see this terrestrial orchid in Florida while traveling by horse-drawn wagon in 1903 through the pinelands of southern Miami-Dade County (Long Prairie) with his two companions, A. A. Eaton and J. K. Small (Correll, 1950). The type specimen was collected in the same locality by Carter, Eaton, and Small in 1906. Since those early years this orchid has been seen on relatively few occasions. In addition to its rarity, it is diminutive, anthesis is just a few weeks, and it has the habit of lying dormant through its normal flowering season, sometimes for years.

Botanist George Avery�s unpublished notes reveal that Frank Craighead found a small colony of plants near Osteen Hammock on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park sometime before 1971. These plants disappeared shortly after their discovery and it was suspected that they were illegally collected. In September 1982, Everglades National Park botanist Jim Snyder discovered three plants in a research transect on Long Pine Key and these were identified by Avery.



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Basiphyllaea showed up again in a different

location on Long Pine Key when Alan Herndon found a single plant in bud in October 1987. In 1988, Herndon also found this species for the first time in Florida outside of Miami-Dade County in the pine rocklands of Big Pine Key in the Lower Florida Keys (Monroe County). During that same year Chuck McCartney reported this species near Osteen Hammock in Everglades National Park.

Yet another discovery came in September 1991. While on a field trip with a group studying grasses, biologist George Gann and others noticed a number of flowering specimens growing in a pine-oak ecotone at the Deering Estate, a 400-acre preserve bordering Biscayne Bay. An extensive survey of the site by Carol Lippincott and the author revealed a total of at least 50 plants. This is the largest population ever discovered in Florida and the northernmost Florida site as well. Inspections of this site by the author over the past nine years, however, have been fruitless.

A small population is also known from a remnant pine rockland parcel in Naranja (Pine Island Tract) that is presently owned by the Miami-Dade School Board. The author observed six plants in flower at this site in September 1993. There is also a small population in the vicinity of Deer Hammock on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park.



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Although there are a number of sites in

southern Florida where this species has been observed, it still should be treated as a very rare taxon. Its global range includes southern Florida, the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. BELOGLOTTIS COSTARICENSIS (Rchb. f.) Schltr. [Synonymy: Spiranthes costaricensis Rchb. f.] Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: Costa Rican ladies�-tresses.

This species was first discovered in Florida in 1953 by John Beckner (Luer, 1972). The plants he found were growing in a hardwood hammock on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park and it is now known to occur in a number of hammocks there. Prior to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, it seemed to be expanding its population within Everglades National Park. It also historically occurred in a hammock preserve (Timms Hammock) in southern Miami-Dade County but this population was declining prior to Hurricane Andrew and it has not been seen at that location since the storm. It is most likely extirpated from Florida outside of Everglades National Park. Although Luer (1972) states that �plants are infrequent, small and frail,� and that the species is �apparently not thriving in this adopted territory,� during some some years vigorous plants appear in fair abundance. It is currently known from at least four hammocks on Long Pine Key.



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CALOPOGON MULTIFLORUS Lindley [Synonymy: Limodorum multiflorum (Lindl.) C. Mohr; Limodorum pinetorum Small] Florida range: nearly throughout Florida south to Collier and Miami-Dade counties. Common name: many-flowered grass-pink.

This species has been known in Florida since at least 1840. It is a species of pine flatwoods and is most abundant and noticeable following fire in its habitat. Donovan Correll had, at one time, relegated this species as a variety of Calopogon barbatus but, he later noticed differences in the flower shape and flowering season and felt that those characters were sufficient enough to maintain it as a separate species (Correll, 1950).

There is an old herbarium record of this species from Miami-Dade County and, more recently, it was discovered in the Bear Island Unit of Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County by Keith Bradley in 1997, and a specimen from this site has been deposited at the University of Florida herbarium. Chuck McCartney and the author photographed plants in this population in March 2000, which were found growing in competition with grasses in open meadows surrounded by saw palmetto (Serenoa repens). This is the southernmost population of Calopogon multiflorus in Florida and the area should be surveyed following the next fire to determine the extent of the population. It is more common northward.



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CYCLOPOGON ELATUS (Sw.) Schltr. [Synonymy: Beadlea elata (Sw.) Small ex Britton; Spiranthes elata (Sw.) Rich.] Florida range: Hernando (Citrus) and Miami-Dade Counties. Common name: tall neottia.

This species was first discovered in Florida in Hernando County by A. H. Curtiss in 1881 (Correll, 1950). In 1961, J. A. Lassiter, et al, collected a herbarium specimen from a �Cutler rocky hammock.� Luer (1972) reports that a single plant was also found growing in a hardwood forest in 1961 by John Beckner. Just before the hammock was to be bulldozed for a subdivision, Luer took the specimen and flowered it in cultivation for identification. Another 17 years passed before it was recognized in Florida again.

Conservation biologist George Gann found a small colony of unidentified orchids in a hardwood forest near Kendall Tamiami Airport (Miami-Dade County) in October 1978. These plants were inspected again in March 1979 by George Avery, George Gann, and the author. Of the six plants present, one was in flower, and it was identified as Cyclopogon [Spiranthes] elatus. Avery took the inflorescence and a leaf, which were deposited in the herbarium at Fairchild Tropical Garden (Avery #2087). A single plant was seen in the same location by George Gann in March 1980 but has not been documented at that site since that date. Vegetatively, this species closely resembles a more common



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species, Cyclopogon cranichoides, and the two species flower during the same season. It is listed in this report as �Very Rare� but may, indeed, be extirpated. ELTROPLECTRIS CALCARATA (Sw.) Garay & H. R. Sweet [Synonymy: Centrogenium setaceum (Lindl.) Schltr.; Pelexia setacea Lindl. Florida range: Highlands and Miami-Dade Counties. Common name: spurred neottia.

This species was first discovered in Florida in Miami-Dade County in 1905 by A. A. Eaton and was apparently not seen again until J. B. McFarlin found it in Highlands County in 1936 (Correll, 1950). These remain the only two counties in Florida where it has been reported. In Miami-Dade County, it has been found in two protected county-owned preserves and in at least four hammocks on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park. Prior to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, this species appeared to be undergoing a population expansion within Everglades National Park, which seems to be continuing today. Due to hurricane damage, and perhaps a lowered water table, the populations have dwindled in the hammocks outside of Everglades National Park and may no longer be extant. Careful searches in both areas by the author from January 1998 to December 2000 have been fruitless. Also, feral hogs are believed to have eradicated this species from Highlands Hammock State Park in Highlands



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County and, therefore, this orchid may no longer be extant in that county. ENCYCLIA PYGMAEA (Hook.) Dressler [Synonymy: Epidendrum pygmaeum Hook.; Hormidium pygmaeum (Hook.) Benth. & Hook. f. ex Hemsl.; Prosthechea pygmaea (Hook.) W. E. Higgins] Florida range: Collier County. Common name: dwarf butterfly orchid.

This species was first discovered in Florida in the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County in 1905 by A. A. Eaton (Correll, 1950). The exact location remained a secret until about 1962 when local woodsmen began bringing plants out of the swamp and offering them for sale (Luer, 1972). This species is extremely local within the Fakahatchee Swamp but where it does occur, there are relatively large populations, sometimes covering six feet or more of the branches on the host tree. Why this species has not been able to spread to other suitable habitats within the Fakahatchee Swamp remains a mystery. It seems to prefer pop ash and pond-apple trees in deep sloughs. Frank Craighead�s notes reveal that he attempted to transplant this species into Pine Island Hammock near the entrance to Everglades National Park in September 1962, but this translocation effort failed. EPIDENDRUM STROBILIFERUM Rchb. f. [Synonymy: Spathiger strobiliferus (Rchb. f.) Small]



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Florida range: Collier County. Common name: Big Cypress star orchid.

This inconspicuous orchid was first discovered in Florida by Oakes Ames and A. A. Eaton in 1904 (Correll, 1950). It was found �near Naples, Collier County,� and today is known only from the Fakahatchee Swamp and Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County. Frank Craighead�s notes indicate that he made several attempts to introduce this species into the hammocks of Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park in the early 1960s, but these efforts failed. This species is infrequent in relatively remote sloughs within the Fakahatchee Swamp. GALEANDRA BICARINATA G. A. Romero & P. M. Brown [Galeandra beyrichii Rchb. f., misapplied] Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: helmet orchid.

Although Donovan Correll (1950) gives credit to Karl O. Kramer for finding this orchid for the first time in Florida (as Galeandra beyrichii) within �Costello Hammock� (correctly Castellow Hammock) in November 1946, Kramer was a student on a field trip being led by University of Miami professor Roy Woodbury. It was Woodbury who collected the first herbarium specimen which is deposited at Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami. No one saw a specimen again until a fruiting stem was discovered in the same locality in 1961 (Luer, 1972). George Avery�s notes mention additional sightings in



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Castellow Hammock from 1972 through 1976. In 1975, Chuck McCartney, Joyce Gann, and Sally Black, who were all on a Native Plant Workshop field trip, found a plant of this species in another hammock (now a Miami-Dade County preserve) west of Homestead. Carlyle Luer and the author found a small colony of flowering specimens in that same hammock in 1979. Since then, this species has been found in at least six hammocks on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park (Don Keller and the author, pers. obsv.).

Gustavo Romero-Gonzalez and Paul Martin Brown published the name Galeandra bicarinata as a new species from Florida and the Greater Antilles (Romero-Gonzalez & Brown, 2000). GOVENIA FLORIDANA P. M. Brown [Govenia utriculata (Sw.) Lindl., misapplied] Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: Florida govenia.

Frank Craighead first discovered this orchid (as Govenia utriculata) in Florida in 1957 in a hammock on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park (Luer, 1972). Craighead located several dozen plants spread over about an acre of hammock. There is a herbarium specimen deposited at Fairchild Tropical Garden (two fruiting stems) collected by Craighead on April 10, 1960. The Everglades National Park herbarium has two collections made by Craighead, one dated April 22, 1962, and the



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other dated October 21, 1962. The University of Florida also has a Craighead specimen dated �Fall 1963.�

In September 1960, Hurricane Donna severely damaged the hammocks of Long Pine Key but the orchid colony survived. Shortly after the hurricane, however, the colony disappeared, presumably from illegal collecting (Luer, pers. comm.). Craighead�s notes indicate that he moved a number of plants into other hammocks on Long Pine Key. Ruben Sauleda reported finding this species in 1988 along the edge of Osteen Hammock on Long Pine Key (at the edge of a solution hole in pine rockland habitat). A voucher photograph said to have been taken in Everglades National Park was deposited by Sauleda in the herbarium at the University of South Florida. The authenticity of this photo, however, has been questioned. Although extensive searches of Everglades hammocks have been made by a number of knowledgeable botanists, there were no further confirmed reports of this species until 2000, when Paul Martin Brown rediscovered a few immature seedling plants in an undisclosed location on Long Pine Key. Recent work on the taxonomy of this species has relegated Florida material to Govenia floridana and considered endemic to the state (Brown, 2000). This species is teetering on the brink of extinction.



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HABENARIA DISTANS Griseb. Florida range: Collier, Highlands, and Lee Counties. Common name: hammock false rein orchid.

This species was first found in Florida in August 1978 by A. P. Garber in Lee County (Correll, 1950). Luer (1972) states that by 1910 it had not been recorded in Florida again. Luer photographed the species in Collier County in September 1960, and in Highlands County in September 1967. One population in Collier County is thriving but feral hogs within Highlands Hammock State Park are a distinct threat to this, and other, terrestrial orchids. It also occurs in the Fakahatchee Swamp but is not listed for Corkscrew Swamp that straddles Collier and Lee counties. In 1978, a number of illegally-collected plants were confiscated by John Popenoe (director of Fairchild Tropical Garden at the time) and were propagated at the Garden for two years. It thrived in cultivation and three pots filled with plants were given to the author, which were returned to Collier-Seminole State Park in November 1980. That population has since expanded considerably. LEPANTHOPSIS MELANANTHA (Rchb. f.) Ames [Synonymy: Lepanthes harrisii Fawc. & Rendle] Florida range: Collier County. Common name: tiny orchid.

This orchid was first discovered in Florida in December 1931 in the �Big Cypress Swamp� (probably the Fakahatchee Swamp) in Collier County by D. T. Tompkins (Correll, 1950). It is difficult to



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find because of its diminutive size and its habit of growing in only a few of the most remote sloughs within the Fakahatchee Swamp. Luer (1972) concludes that it is �quite uncommon in the most inaccessible recesses of the [Fakahatchee] swamp.� One plant was observed by the author in 1985 growing directly beneath the arching leaves of a bromeliad, making it exceptionally difficult to see. This species is undoubtedly very rare. In 28 years of exploring the Fakahatchee Swamp, the author has encountered only seven individuals of this species and never has there been more than a single plant on the host tree. MAXILLARIA CRASSIFOLIA (Lindl.) Rchb. f. [Synonymy: Maxillaria sessilis (Sw.) Fawc. and Rendle] Florida range: Collier County. Common name: hidden orchid. The first collection of this species in Florida was probably made by J. B. McFarlin in Big Cypress Hammock (about six miles west of Deep Lake, Collier County, Florida) in April 1934 (Correll, 1950).This is a rarely encountered species in the Fakahatchee Swamp and the deeper sloughs of the adjacent Big Cypress National Preserve. Although this species does not occur on the checklist of plants for Everglades National Park, there had been a plant in a hardwood hammock on Long Pine Key (Miami-Dade County) persisting from a Frank Craighead introduction. This plant was moved to that location from an area in Big Cypress National Preserve that



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was slated for development. Craighead made many attempts at establishing this species into hammocks of Long Pine Key but all but this one failed. It has not been seen in that hammock since Hurricane Andrew and is presumed extirpated from Everglades National Park. MAXILLARIA PARVIFLORA (Poepp. & Endl.) Garay [Synonymy: Maxillaria conferta (Grisb.) C. Schweinf ex Léon Florida range: Collier County. Common name: none.

This species was first found in Florida by the author in 1975 growing in a very remote pop ash slough in the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County (Hammer, 1981; McCartney, 1993). Carlyle Luer accompanied the author to the station in April 1976 and tentatively identified the plants as Maxillaria conferta (now relegated as a synonym of M. parviflora). Luer collected a single stem with roots and cultivated it at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota until it flowered. Its identity was confirmed and the plant was deposited at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens� herbarium.

Several large clusters of this orchid had colonized a single pop ash tree. Sometime in 1990, a large trunk of the host tree broke off, killing about half of the known population. The remaining two trunks harbored the rest of the population. In 1996, the author was unable to locate the tree while on an excursion with Keith Bradley and Mike Owen. It is



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possible that the rest of the tree fell, sending the remaining plants to a watery grave, or we may have been inspecting the wrong slough. A trip into this area is being scheduled by Mike Owen and the author in an attempt to relocate the station. This species is tentatively kept in the �Very Rare� section of this report but it may, indeed, already be extirpated. Only eight people ever saw this orchid growing wild in Florida. Sadly, in January 1983, the author suggested to George Avery that we visit the M. parviflora station in September to see if we could see it in flower. Avery died in July. MESADENUS LUCAYANUS (Britton) Schltr. [Synonymy: Ibididum lucayana Britton, Spiranthes lucayana (Britton) Conginaux; Mesadenus polyanthus (Rchb. F.) Schltr. misapplied.] Florida range: Citrus, Duval, Martin, Miami-Dade and Sarasota Counties. Common name: gray ladies�-tresses.

This species was first discovered in Florida by J. K. Small and C. A. Mosier on the southern portion of Elliott Key (Miami-Dade County) in 1915 (Correll, 1950). It was not seen again for nearly 40 years when a fern collector found it in Citrus County (Luer, 1972). It was also collected by B. E. Tatje at Sewall�s Point in Martin County in February 1978 (Keith Bradley, pers. comm.). Two herbarium specimens were deposited at the University of South Florida in Tampa by Ruben Sauleda that were dated April 2 and April 18, 1988 respectively (Sauleda #9202 and #9214). The collection locations were



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given as �Miami-Dade Co., Everglades National Park,� with specific site details listed on each herbarium label. An extensive search of both locations within Everglades National Park were made from 1990 to 1998 by a number of knowledgeable botanists but no plants have ever been found. The author deposited photocopies of the herbarium sheets at the Everglades National Park research center, which unintentionally set off an official inquiry. Because the collections were made without federal permits, Everglades National Park staff requested that the specimens be returned for accessioning and cataloging. The current status of this rare taxon in southern Florida is unknown. There have been no confirmed sightings of this species in Miami-Dade County in recent years. PLEUROTHALLIS GELIDA Lindl. Florida range: Collier County. Common name: flor de llanten. This species was found for the first time in Florida in Collier County by A. A. Eaton in March 1905 (Correll, 1950). Correll (1950), Lakela and Craighead (1965), and Luer (1972), all list this species for Collier and Miami-Dade counties, but the Miami-Dade records are likely based on plants moved into hammocks on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park by Frank Craighead and others. A few of these introductions have been reported as persisting within undisclosed locations within Everglades National Park, but none have ever been



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observed by the author. This species is listed on the plant list for Everglades National Park (Loope and Avery, 1980), but is not listed for Big Cypress National Preserve (Black and Black, 1980), nor does it appear on the plant list for Corkscrew Swamp. It is currently only known from the Fakahatchee Swamp where it is infrequent in the deep, remote sloughs. PONTHIEVA BRITTONIAE Ames [Synonymy: Ponthieva racemosa (Walter) C. Mohr var. brittonae (Ames) Luer] Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: Mrs. Britton�s shadow witch. The first Florida collection of this species is apparently that of J. K. Small and J. J. Carter on January 16, 1909 from �small islands NW of Perrine.� It was also collected between January 18-26, 1909 from �Long Key (Everglades).� It was reported from the Bahamas in 1910. Carlyle Luer photographed it in flower in Miami-Dade County in February 1961 without a specific location (Luer, 1972). On February 24, 1979, the author discovered six plants growing along the edge of a firebreak on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park near Wright Hammock (two plants were in flower). George Avery visited the site on March 1, 1979 and, on March 12, 1979 the author was accompanied by Donovan Correll and John Popenoe to the station. This was the first time either of them had seen living plants of this species. Correll collected half of one



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inflorescence for closer study and later determined that it should be relegated as a separate species and not a variety of the more widespread Pontheiva racemosa.

A few plants were seen at the same Long Pine Key station by George Avery, Chuck McCartney, and the author in February 1983. Avery correctly noted that �all plants [were] on dirt soil of road margin� (Avery, unpubl. notes). Sometime between 1985-86, the firebreak was graded by the National Park Service to smooth the road (automobiles were still allowed access down this firebreak at the time). Unfortunately, the grader widened the firebreak slightly and destroyed the orchid population. The last confirmed sighting of this species in Florida is that of Chuck McCartney who saw and photographed a robust plant in flower at the edge of a solution hole on Long Pine Key on February 15, 1987. McCartney, the author, and others have made annual treks to Long Pine Key during February and March (its flowering season) in an effort to re-discover this species. So far, all of these efforts have failed. PRESCOTIA OLIGANTHA (Sw.) Ames Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: small prescott orchid. This diminutive plant was first discovered in Florida by A. A. Eaton, who found it growing in a hammock in Lee County in 1903 and again near



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Homestead in 1905 (Correll, 1950). This hammock in Miami-Dade County was known as Burden�s Hammock. When this location was being threatened by a housing development in 1960, Carlyle Luer moved the plants into �a similar hammock within the boundaries of Everglades National Park� (Luer, 1972). There were no reports of this species still surviving in Everglades National Park until February 1989 when a flowering plant was discovered by Don Keller in a hammock on Long Pine Key. This can only be presumed to be the same location where Luer moved plants but Luer stated to the author that he could not recall any specific relocation details. The plant discovered by Keller was photographed by the author. The small population of about a half dozen plants was being closely monitored up until Hurricane Andrew in 1992. A few attempts at relocating the station have been recently made without success. SPIRANTHES EATONII Ames ex P. M. Brown Florida range: Alachua, Citrus, Clay, DeSoto, Dixie, Escanaba, Franklin, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Jackson, Lee, Levy, Madison, Marion, Miami-Dade, Okaloosa, Sumter, Taylor, Volusia, Wakulla, and Walton counties. Common name: Eaton�s ladies�-tresses. In 1905, A. A. Eaton discovered in Miami-Dade County, Florida what he thought to be Spiranthes lacera, and later Ames annotated the specimens Eaton had collected and deposited at the orchid



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herbarium at Harvard University, to forma angustifolia. Ames later attached a note to the sheet with the annotation, Spiranthes eatonii sp. nov., and even indicated the seven specimens on the sheet as the type (Brown, 1999). He would, however, never publish the name.

Over the next 94 years, this taxon would be collected many more times, variously labeled Spiranthes lacera, S. gracilis, S. lacera var. gracilis, S. gracilis var. brevilabris, and S. torta (Brown, 1999). Its current known range is Florida, eastern Texas, southern Louisiana, southern Alabama, southern and eastern Georgia north to southeastern Virginia. Paul Martin Brown, who published the name Spiranthes eatonii in March 1999, brought this orchid to the author�s attention during the final stages of writing this report. Because it has been inadvertently collected over a relatively wide geographic range, including throughout much of Florida, it is likely that this �new� taxon is still extant. TROPIDIA POLYSTACHYA (Sw.) Ames Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: young palm orchid. This species was found for the first time in Florida in Brickell Hammock, Miami-Dade County, by A. H. Curtiss in April 1897 (Correll, 1972). Luer (1972) states that �our native Tropidia is on the verge of extinction� because so few plants were known from only a single location. In 1972, the author



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surveyed about four dozen plants in a small fragment of what is left of Brickell Hammock (now a City of Miami park). In April 1980, the City of Miami Parks Department decided to clear a �nature trail� through the hammock for public access, and this trail went directly through the largest colony of orchids. In October 1980, an extensive search of the hammock was made by George Avery and the author, and a total of 12 plants were located, one of which had unopened flower buds. In 1989, the author was accompanied by Carol Lippincott to conduct another survey and were able to locate only six plants (Hammer, 1997). Following Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the hammock became a homeless encampment with trash strewn about makeshift huts, and this added foot traffic further endangered the orchid population.

The New York Botanical Garden herbarium harbors four collections of Tropidia polystachya: A. A. Eaton, December 1903, Brickell Hammock; J. K. Small and J. J. Carter, October 1906, Brickell Hammock; J. K. Small and C. A. Mosier, June 1915, Brogdon Hammock; J. K. Small, K. W. Small, and J. B. Dewinkler, December 1922, Warwick Hammock at Cutler. The historic location of Brogdon Hammock is unknown, but Warwick Hammock existed at the northeast section of Howard Drive (SW 136 Street) and Ludlam Road (SW 67 Avenue), which is now the site of the Devonwood subdivision.



25

There is a herbarium specimen deposited at Fairchild Tropical Garden labeled �Cutler, Dade County� made by �WGA� (William G. Atwater) dated August 24, 1954. This collection could have been from either Warwick Hammock or Addison Hammock within the Deering Estate at Cutler. This species appears on a plant list for Addison Hammock compiled by J. K. Small, but no plants have been reported from that site in recent years and there are apparently no herbarium specimens to document its historic occurrence there. A single specimen from Miami-Dade County exists in the herbarium at the University of South Florida (Wunderlin, pers. comm.).

There is also one other interesting report that was made sometime in November or December 1903 and reported by Oakes Ames in the 1904 publication, A contribution to our knowledge of the orchid flora of southern Florida (Contributions from the Ames Botanical Laboratory, No. 1). A. A. Eaton had found Tropidia at �Costello�s [Castellow] Hammock, T. 39 R 56 S., December 19 (a few plants only).� Extensive botanical surveys have been conducted in Castellow Hammock over the years without further reports of this species. It is not listed by Roy Woodbury on his 1937 checklist of plants of Castellow Hammock.

Because no plants could be located within the portion of Brickell Hammock where this species was last seen prior to Hurricane Andrew, the author



26

reported its potential demise (Hammer, 1997). But, in 1998, Chuck McCartney discovered three plants and the author has since found one additional plant. That brings the total number of plants known to exist in Florida to four individuals. To say that this species is near extirpation would be an understatement.

RARE CAMPYLOCENTRUM PACHYRRHIZUM (Rchb. f.) Rolfe Florida range: Collier County. Common name: leafless bent spur orchid; ribbon orchid. This species was first discovered in Florida in Collier County by A. A. Eaton in 1905 (Correll, 1950). It is rare but locally common in the Fakahatchee Swamp, where it grows on royal palms, pop ash, pond-apple and, reportedly, cypress trees. This is a leafless species that is often hard to detect because it grows on trees that are often covered with mosses and lichens, and it can also be confused with the roots of other orchids. It appears on the list of vascular plants for Big Cypress National Preserve (Black and Black, 1980) on the basis of a 1956 specimen. It is now believed to be restricted to the Fakahatchee Swamp in Florida. CYRTOPODIUM PUNCTATUM (L.) Lindl. Florida range: Collier, Miami-Dade, Lee, and Monroe counties. Common name: cigar orchid; cowhorn orchid.



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The first recorded collection of this orchid in Florida was made in 1897 by A. P. Garber near Miami (Correll, 1950). Because of its spectacular floral display, it became one of the most sought-after orchids in Florida. Photographs taken in the early 1900s show horse-drawn wagons filled with cowhorn orchids taken from the Everglades, and this species is still illegally collected from preserves in southern Florida. There are, however, some impressive plants still remaining in Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Corkscrew Swamp, and Fakahatchee Swamp. As recently as 1992 there was a large specimen growing on a mangrove within Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Recreation Area on Key Biscayne, but it was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. A population at the Deering Estate at Cutler was also destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. This population, however, was introduced by Charles Deering�s friend and correspondent, John Kunkel Small. In a letter to Oakes Ames dated February 21, 1923, Small reminisced about a collecting trip to Cape Sable (Monroe County) and wrote, �we found a plant of Cyrtopodium on a cabbage-tree [Sabal palmetto] trunk with 201 pseudobulbs on a mass of roots between 3 and 4 feet in diameter. It took six men to handle it. I had it set up in the Deering botanical garden at Cutler.� In Everglades National Park, this species occurs sporadically from the hardwood forests of Long Pine Key through the cypress forests and into the coastal mangroves of mainland Monroe County.



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EPIDENDRUM FLORIDENSE Hágsater [Epidendrum difforme Jacq., misapplied; Amphiglottis difformis (Jacq.) Britton, misapplied; Neolehmannia difforumis (Jacq.) Pabst, misapplied] Florida range: Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade, Hendry, Lee, Monroe, Palm Beach, and Polk counties. Common name: umbrella star orchid.

The earliest collection of this species in Florida was probably made by A. P. Garber near Miami in 1877 (Correll, 1950). Luer (1972) states that this species (as Epidendrum difforme) is �rather abundant in the hammocks and forests of southern peninsular Florida and exceedingly common farther south.� Chuck McCartney (pers. comm.) reports relatively large populations in two Broward County preserves. This is an interesting observation because Correll (1950) did not list this species for Broward County. It is infrequent and local in the Fakahatchee Swamp and it is listed on a plant survey for Crooked E Ranch in the Devil�s Garden area of Hendry County. This list was compiled by George Avery and other members of the Native Plant Workshop during field trips conducted between June 1970 and June 1976. Also, Frank Craighead made numerous attempts to establish this species in hammocks on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park, and one of these introductions persists in a hammock just inside the park entrance. There are local but widespread populations in the Flamingo area of Everglades National Park.



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ONCIDIUM FLORIDANUM Ames. [Oncidium ensatum Lindl. misapplied] Florida range: Collier and Miami-Dade counties. Common name: Florida oncidium; Florida dancing lady orchid. Botanists J. K. Small and J. J. Carter were the first to discover this species in Florida in 1903 in Miami-Dade County (Correll, 1950). This terrestrial species historically occurred in hammocks over much of Miami-Dade County but collectors and habitat destruction have eliminated it outside of Everglades National Park. Wunderlin (1998) only lists it for Miami-Dade County on the basis of voucher specimens but it is listed by Austin (1990) for the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County. Carlyle Luer (pers. comm.) recalls seeing this species in the northwestern section of the Fakahatchee in an area slated for development by the Gulf American Corporation. Also, Chuck McCartney (pers. comm.) reports seeing a plant in the Monument Road area of Big Cypress National Preserve (Collier County) sometime in the late 1970s. ONCIDIUM UNDULATUM (Sw.) Salisb. [Synonymy: Lophiaris maculata (Aublet) Acker.; Oncidium luridum Lindl., misapplied] Florida range: Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Common name: mule-ear orchid. The mule-ear orchid was first found in Florida� on Royal Palm Key, Dade County, Florida� by A. A. Eaton and John Soar in December 1903 (Correll, 1950). Royal Palm Key refers to what is now known



30

as Royal Palm Hammock on Paradise Key in Everglades National Park. The historical inland occurrence of this species is interesting because today it is known only from coastal hammocks and mangrove-buttonwood associations in mainland Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Chuck McCartney discovered a large plant growing just off a tram road within the Fakahatchee Swamp in March 1994 but this specimen disappeared shortly after its discovery. This was not a naturally occurring specimen because there was evidence that it had been wired to the tree.

Because this is one of Florida�s showiest native orchids, it has been highly sought by collectors and has been eliminated from much of its historic range. In 1938, J. K. Small made a collection �on live oaks below Miami,� but no further location details were given. There is a photograph taken by Small dated December 1917 showing a large mule-ear orchid growing on the limb of a live oak in Royal Palm Hammock (Miami-Dade County). This species is now restricted to relatively remote regions of Everglades National Park and buttonwoods (Conocarpus erecta) are its primary host.

Florida material of O. undulatum has been

generally known as Oncidium luridum, but recent authors have concluded that O. luridum is a separate species found in Central and South America and differs significantly in morphology. Chuck



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McCartney and others disagree with this determination. PLATYTHELYS SAGRAEANA [Synonymy: Physurus sagraeanus A. Rich.] Florida range: Highlands County south through the peninsula. Common name: none. This species has been collected a number of times in southern Florida under the name Erythrodes querceticola. J. K. Small (1933) listed two species in the genus Physurus for Florida; Physurus sagraeanus for �hammocks, S pen. Fla. (West Indies),� and Physurus querceticola for �low woods and hammocks, Coastal Plain, N pen. Fla. to La. and Tex.� The name Platythelys sagraeanus is being used in a new work on the orchids of the Lesser Antilles and Paul Martin Brown will be following suit in a new work on the orchid flora of Florida. It is known from a few hammocks on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park (Miami-Dade County) and is sporadic in Big Cypress National Preserve, the Fakahatchee Swamp and Corkscrew Swamp (Collier County). This species was listed (as Erythrodes querceticola) on a 1937 checklist of plants for Castellow Hammock in southern Miami-Dade County conducted by Roy Woodbury but it has not been seen at that location in recent years. It is not currently known from Miami-Dade County outside of Everglades National Park, but it is small, and easily overlooked.



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POLYRADICION LINDENII (Lindl.) Garay [Synonymy: Dendrophyax lindendii Lindley, Polyrrhiza lindenii (Lindl.) Cogn.] Florida range: Collier, Lee, and Monroe counties. Common name: ghost orchid; palm polly. Jean Jules Linden was the first to discover this unusual orchid in the dense forests of Sagua and Nimanima in St. Jago de Cuba in September 1844. The species was described by John Lindley in 1846 and named to commemorate Linden (Luer, 1972). In Florida, it was first found in Collier County by A. H. Curtiss in 1880 (Correll, 1950).

In 1969, Clyde Bramblett, an orchid and carnivorous plant enthusiast, moved several plants from the Gulf American Corporation�s subdivision site northwest of the Fakahatchee Swamp to Grossman Hammock (now Chekika Recreation Area in Everglades National Park). One of these plants, which was wired to a pond-apple tree along the hammock trail, survived for a number of years and was photographed in flower by the author in July 1975. A seed capsule was produced but no seedlings have ever been found at the site. This plant was killed by the freeze of 1977, and the species is now likely extirpated from Miami-Dade County.

In April 1885, naturalist Charles Torrey Simpson and nurseryman Pliny Reasoner sailed from Tampa Bay to Cape Sable to collect plants and shells. Simpson wrote in Plant World (Vol. 5, pp. 4-7,



33

1902) of 125� royal palms growing at the Evans Plantation along Rodgers River (Monroe County) and noted that he had found �Dendrophylax [Polyradicion] lindenii�growing on the palm trunks. He also noted that he had seen this same species growing on royal palms in Honduras. This is odd because the ghost orchid occurs only in Florida and Cuba, not in Honduras. Wunderlin (1998) lists its Florida range (from voucher specimens) as Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties. SACOILA LANCEOLATA (Aubl.) Garay var. PALUDICOLA (Luer) Sauleda, et al [Synonymy: Spiranthes lanceolata (Aubl.) Leon var. paludicola Luer] Florida range: Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties. Common name: scarlet ladies�-tresses. This recognizable variety is endemic to southern Florida. It is most common in and around the Fakahatchee Swamp and Corkscrew Swamp in Collier County. Numerous attempts were made by Frank Craighead to introduce it into Everglades National Park and some of his introductions persisted for a number of years before disappearing. It still occurs in Grossman Hammock (now known as Chekika Recreation Area in Everglades National Park). George Avery, George Gann, and the author also observed several plants in an oak-dominated forest near Kendall Tamiami Airport in March 1979 but this population has since disappeared. It was once thought that this orchid was restricted to



34

Collier County, but there are also populations in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The Broward population is thriving in a county preserve and it was only recently found there, indicating that it may have been purposely introduced or made a recent natural range expansion. SPIRANTHES LONGILABRIS Lindl. Florida range: throughout Florida except the extreme southern tip of the mainland and the Florida Keys. Common name: longlip ladies�-tresses. It is unknown when this species was first collected in Florida, but it was first described by John Lindley in 1840 from a specimen collected in Louisiana. Correll (1950) states that this species is �commonly found in wet grassy pine barrens and flatwoods, swamps, marshes, wet savannahs, coastal prairies, sandy bogs, and moist grassy meadows.� Its natural range encompasses the southeastern US.

In southern Florida, it is rare but can be found sporadically around Corkscrew Swamp and Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County. It was also discovered for the first time in the Bear Island Unit in Big Cypress National Preserve in 1997 by Keith Bradley. It is much more common northward. SPIRANTHES TORTA (Thunb.) Garay and H. R. Sweet [Synonymy: Spiranthes tortilis (Sw.) Rich.] Florida range: Charlotte and Palm Beach counties



35

southward into the Lower Florida Keys. Common name: southern ladies�-tresses.

Correll (1950) gives credit to Thomas Drummond as being the first person to collect this orchid in the US, and the collection was made in Orleans Parrish, Louisiana in 1832. This collection has proven to be Spiranthes eatonii. In southern Florida, it is a rare inhabitant of open, grassy meadows in pine rockland habitat. A flowering specimen deposited in Fairchild Tropical Garden�s herbarium was collected by Donovan Correll and John Popenoe in June 1977 at the corner of Allapattah Drive and Old Cutler Road (Miami-Dade County). Keith Bradley reports seeing it at that same location ca. 1995 but the site is now destroyed.

Currently, this species is known from the Lower Florida Keys (Monroe County), on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park (Miami-Dade County), and in remnant glades in the Richmond Pineland complex south of MetroZoo (Miami-Dade County). It should be mentioned that some of the more northern reports of this species in Florida may reflect misidentifications with the very similar Spiranthes eatonii. Also see Spiranthes amesiana in the �Presumed Extirpated� section of this report.

UNCOMMON CALOPOGON PALLIDUS Chapm. [Synonymy: Limodorum pallidum (Chapm.) C. Mohr] Florida



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range: nearly throughout mainland Florida. Common name: pale grasspink.

This orchid was first collected in the United States sometime in the 1890s. Lakela and Craighead (1965) list this species for Miami-Dade and Collier counties. It is on the plant list for the Fakahatchee Swamp (Austin, 1990) in Collier County and also occurs at Corkscrew Swamp. On the east coast of Florida it is known to occur as far south as Palm Beach County (Keith Bradley collected a voucher specimen from Jupiter, Florida in 1998). While this species may have historically occurred in Miami-Dade County, it is no longer extant. It is possible that some reports, especially those from Miami-Dade County, are the result of the misidentification of this species with pale-flowered forms of the more common Calopogon tuberosus (refer to this species in the Common section of this report). Calopogon pallidus is not listed for Everglades National Park nor Big Cypress National Preserve. CYCLOPOGON CRANICHOIDES (Griseb.) Schltr. [Synonymy: Beadlea cranichoides (Griseb.) Small; Spiranthes cranichoides (Griseb.) Cogn.] Florida range: Alachua, Highlands, Lake, Marion, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Volusia counties. Common name: cranichis ladies�-tresses; speckled ladies�-tresses.

The first collection of this species in Florida was from Holly Hill, Volusia County, by Alice Eastwood in 1890 (Correll, 1950). Another



37

collection from the same area was made by F. A. Storer in 1897 and described by A. W. Chapman as Spiranthes Storeri to honor its collector. The type specimen of S. Storeri was destroyed in a flash flood at the Biltmore Herbarium in 1916 in Biltmore, North Carolina (Correll, 1950).

Correll (1950) refers to this species �rather

frequent in Florida� and gives its range as �Alachua, Collier, Dade [Miami-Dade], Highlands, Monroe, Pasco and Volusia counties.� Whether or not Correll actually saw specimens from all of these counties is unknown. Wunderlin (1998) only lists it for Alachua, Highlands, and Miami-Dade counties on the basis of voucher specimens and regards it as �rare.� It has recently be found in Lake (1998) and Marion (1999) Counties. It is locally abundant in a number of hardwood forests of southern Miami-Dade County although, surprisingly, it is quite rare in Everglades National Park hammocks. It was not listed by Loope and Avery (1980) for Everglades National Park but it is known to occur in at least three hammocks on Long Pine Key (author, pers. obsv.).

In April 1920, J. K. Small discovered this species on Pumpkin Key and reported his find in a small pamphlet that he authored and published, entitled �The Botanical Fountain of Youth: A Record of Exploration in Florida in April 1920.� Small wrote, �we had the satisfaction too, of adding another terrestrial orchid to the flora of the reef � a



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humus plant, Beadlea cranichoides.� Pumpkin Key is about 1/2 mile south of the Miami-Dade County line in southern Biscayne Bay (Monroe County) and, prior to its development, was covered with tropical hardwood forest fringed with mangroves.

This orchid had been common in Castellow

Hammock prior to Hurricane Andrew but has not been observed at that location by the author since the storm. The felling of trees followed by direct sun on the forest floor would have been detrimental to this, and other, species of terrestrial orchids. It is still very common in a hammock one mile east of Castellow Hammock. ENCYCLIA BOOTHIANA (Lindl.) Dressler var. ERYTHRONIOIDES (Small) Luer [Synonymy: Epidendrum boothianum (Lindl.) Small var. erythronioides (Small) Luer; Prosthechea boothiana (Lindl.) W.E. Higgins var. erythronioides (Small) W.E. Higgins] Florida range: Martin, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. Common name: dollar orchid.

This species was collected for the first time in Florida by A. H. Curtiss sometime before 1890 on Key Largo (Correll, 1950). At that time, it was reportedly common in the forests of the Florida Keys and in the coastal forests of the southern mainland as well. Collectors and habitat destruction have since eliminated it over much of its historic Florida range. There are still small populations scattered throughout the Upper Florida Keys,



39

especially on Key Largo, but it is curiously rare on Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park. On the mainland there is a small population growing on live oaks at the Deering Estate at Cutler. This is a rather disjunct colony from other mainland populations, the nearest probably being the Flamingo area of Everglades National Park in Monroe County. The Deering Estate population may be the result of a purposeful introduction by Charles Deering�s friend and correspondent, John Kunkel Small, who is known to have introduced many plants to Deering�s palatial estate. Prior to Hurricane Andrew, there was a very small colony of dollar orchids (again on live oaks) in a small hammock surrounded by agricultural land that was bisected by Loveland Road (SW 217 Avenue). This colony, however, is no longer extant due to hurricane damage. The largest and most protected populations occur in the mangrove-buttonwood forests from Flamingo to Cape Sable northward through the Everglades backcountry, and in the federal- and state-owned preserves on North Key Largo. ENCYCLIA COCHLEATA (L.) Dressler var. TRIANDRA (Ames) Dressler [Synonymy: Encyclia cochleata (L.) Dressler subsp. triandra (Ames) Hágsater; Anacheilium cochleatum (L.) Hoffmanns; Anacheilium cochleatum (L.) Hoffmanns var. triandrum (Ames) Sauleda et al, Prosthechea cochleata (L.) W.E. Higgins var. triandra (Ames) W.E. Higgins.] Florida range: Broward, Collier, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade,



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and Monroe counties. Common name: clamshell orchid.

This species was first discovered inFloridaby A. P. Garber �near Miami, Dade County, Florida� in 1877 (Correll, 1950). It was once a very common orchid in southernFloridabut, like many other native orchids, it no longer occurs over some of its historic range in Florida. It is still locally abundant, however, in the swamp forests of Collier County and in hardwood forests within Everglades National Park in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. J. K. Small reported that this was one of the most prolific epiphytic orchids in Matheson Hammock, which became Miami-Dade County�s first public park in 1930. But, due to collecting, this orchid no longer occurs at that location.

A 1937 plant survey conducted by Roy Woodbury listed this species as occurring in Castellow Hammock in southern Miami-Dade County, but it no longer occurs at that location either. There were two plants observed at the Deering Estate at Cutler as recently as 1992, but these were killed by Hurricane Andrew. The two plants were growing on the base of two separate trees directly across from each other along a cleared trail, indicating that they were probably purposely planted, although this species likely occurred naturally there at one time.



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There are still healthy populations within Everglades National Park from Long Pine Key to the coastal forests of Flamingo northward through the Everglades backcountry. It is frequent in the Fakahatchee Swamp and Big Cypress National Preserve northward into Corkscrew Swamp. Chuck McCartney (pers. comm.) also reports a healthy population in Broward County. EPIDENDRUM NOCTURNUM Jacq. [Synonymy: Amphiglottis nocturna (Jacq.) Britton] Florida range: Collier, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties. Common name: night-scented orchid.

The first collection of this orchid in Florida was made by A. P. Garber near Miami in 1877 (Correll, 1950). It is an inhabitant of hardwood hammocks and swamp forests of southern Florida and, in some areas, is locally common. In the hardwood forests of Miami-Dade County it is often found on live oaks. In swamp forests it grows on pop ash, pond-apple, laurel oak, redbay, and other trees. In coastal forests it can be found on buttonwoods and mangroves. There are healthy populations along some of the remote rivers and creeks throughout the Everglades backcountry (author, pers. obsv.). Although many plants were destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, it can still be found in hardwood forests that were impacted by the storm and will likely re-establish as a relatively common epiphyte in these forests in time.



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HABENARIA REPENS Nutt. Florida range: nearly throughout mainland Florida. Common name: waterspider orchid; waterspider false reinorchid.

It is unknown when this ubiquitous orchid was first discovered in Florida, but it was probably sometime in the late 1880s or 1890s (there is a photograph taken by J. K. Small in Lee County dated 1903). In some areas ofFloridathis is an exceedingly abundant aquatic or subaquatic �weed,� often colonizing roadside ditches and other moist, low-lying areas. It is listed as �uncommon� on the plant list for Big Cypress National Preserve (Black and Black, 1980) and, surprisingly, it has never been reported for Everglades National Park. Even in the watery recesses of the Fakahatchee Swamp it is seldom encountered. It is listed by Lakela and Craighead (1965) for Miami-Dade County. If it does not occur in the far western portion of Miami-Dade County within the Miccosukee Reservation or in Big Cypress National Preserve, then it is likely extirpated from the county. HARRISELLA PORRECTA (Rchb. f.) Fawc. & Rendl. [Harrisella filiformis (Sw.) Cogn. misapplied] Florida range: Broward and Collier counties northward to Brevard and Hernando counties. Common name: jinglebell orchid; needleroot airplant orchid.



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The first collection of this minuscule orchid was probably made in Manatee County by E. N. Reasoner in August 1888 (Correll, 1950). This leafless species is extremely difficult to find because it is nothing more than very slender roots attached to small twigs of its host tree. Correll (1950) correctly states that it is Florida�s smallest epiphytic orchid. It can be found on cypress (Taxodium spp.), tallowwood (Ximenia americana), willow (Salix caroliniana), and other trees in hardwood forests and swamps, and on citrus trees in abandoned groves. Chuck McCartney (pers. comm.) reports finding plants growing on guava trees (Psidium sp.) in Broward County. It is not known to occur within Everglades National Park and is on the Big Cypress National Preserve plant list (Black and Black, 1980) on the basis of a 1956 specimen. More recently, however, Keith Bradley, Tony Pernas, and Steve Woodmansee observed this species in Big Cypress National Preserve in 1997. It is apparently absent from Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. IONOPSIS UTRICULARIOIDES (Sw.) Lindl. Florida range: Collier, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties. Common name: delicate ionopsis; delicate violet orchid.

This species was probably collected for the first time in Florida by Oakes and Blanche Ames, who found it growing near Naples (Collier County) on March 12, 1904 (Correll, 1950). Although it is widespread in the Caribbean and tropical America, in



44

Florida it is most abundant in the Fakahatchee Swamp, but it also occurs in Big Cypress National Preserve, Corkscrew Swamp (Collier County), and the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Palm Beach County). It always clings precariously to small branches of its host tree and is usually not very abundant where it is found. Correll (1950) states that it is commonly found in regions of dry atmospheric conditions (which sounds odd because it is an inhabitant of swamp forests). It seems to disappear from areas where it was once abundant, and this does not appear to be associated with collecting. It has been suggested that it is cold-sensitive and that it may simply be short-lived for an orchid. LIPARIS NERVOSA (Thunb.) Lindl. [Synonymy: Liparis elata Lindl. Florida range: Collier, Hernando, Hillsborough, and Miami-Dade counties. Common name: pantropical widelip orchid; tall liparis.

James Layne discovered this species for the first time inFloridain the Fakahatchee Swamp (Collier County) in 1903 (Correll, 1950). It is extremely widespread in both the New and Old World. It is most abundant inFloridain the Fakahatchee Swamp where it is often found growing semi-epiphytically on cut-off, rotting cypress stumps left over from logging in the 1940s and 1950s. Populations can only be surveyed from spring to early fall because it has a dormancy period in winter.



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The Miami-Dade County range is given solely on the basis of historical records. MALAXIS SPICATA Sw. [Synonymy: Microstylis floridana Chapm.] Florida range: Collier County northward to the central Panhandle. Common name: Florida adder's-mouth orchid.

This species was first collected in Florida by A. W. Chapman in 1860 and he described the species as Microstylis floridana (Correll, 1950). This is a cold-hardy species that ranges northward along the Atlantic seaboard as far as Virginia. In Florida it can be found in low, moist woods and in hardwood swamps but it is discontinuous in its distribution in the state. In the Fakahatchee Swamp it is locally common, growing semi-epiphytically on rotting cypress stumps, often in association with Liparis nervosa and Habenaria floribunda. It is listed as �rare� on the plant list for Big Cypress National Preserve (Black and Black, 1980). Chuck McCartney (pers. comm.) reports that it is actually fairly common in some areas of the northeastern portion of Big Cypress National Preserve. PLATANTHERA NIVEA (Nutt.) Luer [Synonymy: Habenaria nivea (Nutt.) Spreng.] Florida range: mainland Miami-Dade County northward. Common name: snowy orchid.

This species occurs from eastern Texas through the southeastern US north to southern New Jersey. It is unknown when it was first discovered in



46

Florida but it can be very abundant in the savannas of North and Central Florida, becoming less common in southern Florida. It is surprisingly absent from Everglades National Park, although there is a possibility that it could occur in the northern portion of mainland Monroe County within Everglades National Park (the author has seen plants within five miles of the Everglades National Park boundary near Gum Slough in Big Cypress National Preserve). It occurs sporadically and infrequently in the open glades of Big Cypress National Preserve and is also known from the Fakahatchee Swamp and Corkscrew Swamp (Collier County). Anthesis is short, each plant taking only two or three weeks to finish flowering. During dry years it skips flowering altogether. There is a specimen collected in 1904 from �Lemon City, Dade County, Florida� but it is now considered extirpated from the county. PTEROGLOSSASPIS ECRISTATA (Fernald) Rolfe [Synonymy: Eulophia ecristata (Fernald) Ames] Florida range: Miami-Dade and Collier counties northward to the central Panhandle. Common name: giant orchid.

The earliest collection of this orchid in Florida was made by Ferdinand Rugel in 1842. It was collected again by A. W. Chapman in Gadsden County in 1845 (Correll, 1950). There is a herbarium specimen collected by �W.G.A.� (William G. Atwater) in 1961 with the label reading �Redlands



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west of Perrine� (Miami-Dade County). Correll (1950) points out that this species has an extremely disrupted range in the southeastern US, and it also has a discontinuous range in Florida. In Miami-Dade County there are populations in the Richmond Pineland complex south of MetroZoo, in a pineland preserve near Kendall Tamiami Airport, in a pineland parcel owned by the Girl Scout Council of Tropical Florida, in the Rockdale Pineland Preserve, and in a small preserve called Pine Shore Park. There is also a population in Collier County in Corkscrew (Crew) Marsh north of Corkscrew Swamp. Oddly, all Miami-Dade populations of this species are cleistogamous (the flowers become fertilized without opening). Chuck McCartney (pers. comm.) also reports that, when dissected, the lip of these cleistogamous flowers appear to have mutated to match the other two petals. SACOILA LANCEOLATA (Aubl.) Garay var. LANCEOLATA [Synonymy: Spiranthes orchioides (Sw.) A. Rich.; Stenorrhynchos lanceolatus (Aubl.) Rich. ex. Spreng.; Stenorrhynchos orchidoides (Sw.) Rich. ex Spreng; Sacoila lanceolata (Aubl.) Garay var. luteoalba (Rchb. f.) Sauleda et al., misapplied; Spiranthes lanceolata (Aubl.) Léon; Spiranthes lanceolata (Aubl.) Léon var. luteoalba (Rchb. f.) Luer, misapplied]. Florida range: sporadic throughout much of the peninsula and in Walton County in the Panhandle. Common name: leafless beaked ladies�-tresses.



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This species was probably collected for the first time in Florida in Orange Bend, Lake County, by George V. Nash in April 1894 (Correll, 1950). Luer (1972) points out that there was much botanical confusion caused by the original brief and fragmentary 18th Century descriptions of this species. Luer (1972) lists 33 botanical synonyms to attest to the attempts to name the various forms and varieties over its long botanical history. The typical variety, leafless during anthesis, is common in Central Florida and even occurs along mowed road shoulders, ditches, and pasture land. The flowers are orange-red or green. This plant is seldom encountered in the southernmost counties in Florida but it is locally common in Hendry and Lee counties. There are specimens collected around the Florida International University�s Tamiami Campus in Miami-Dade County deposited in the Fairchild Tropical Garden herbarium. It occurs only sparingly in Big Cypress National Preserve and around the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County. It is absent from Everglades National Park.

The green-flowered form of this plant, listed by Luer (1972) as Spiranthes lanceolata var. luteoalba, and regarded by Wunderlin (1998) as a misapplied name, has been referred to as Sacoila lanceolata forma albidaviridis by Paul Catling & Charles Sheviak (1993). This green-flowered form ranges into Hendry and Lee counties and typically flowers slightly ahead of



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the red-flowered plants. Sacoila lanceolata var. paludicola is treated in the Rare section of this report. SPIRANTHES LACINIATA (Small) Ames [Synonymy: Ibidium laciniatum (Small) House) Florida range: throughout the mainland. Common name: lacelip ladies�-tresses.

In 1940, Donovan Correll said that he thought this orchid was a naturally occurring hybrid of Spiranthes praecox and S. vernalis but later listed it as a distinct species, although he still believed it was closely allied to S. praecox. This orchid occurs sporadically throughout the open glades and on road swales of Big Cypress National Preserve, and around the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County. It is also sporadic in Miami-Dade County. Chuck McCartney found flowering specimens on June 8, 1981 along Krome Avenue south of Tamiami Trail (SR 41) at the entrance of an old missile base. Carlyle Luer photographed it in flower in Miami-Dade County in May 1959 without any further location data. In August 1988, this species was found in fair abundance along the roadsides and in open glades near the Everglades National Park visitor center and at the turnoff to Royal Palm Hammock. These plants were observed and photographed by Don Keller, Chuck McCartney and the author. This is noteworthy because this species was not previously known to occur in Everglades National Park. It was not listed on the checklist of plants for the park (Loope and Avery, 1980) and there had been no



50

historical collections from the area. It is now relatively common in some areas of Long Pine Key. SPIRANTHES ODORATA (Nutt.) Lindl. [Synonymy: Spiranthes cernua (L.) Rich. var. odorata (Nutt.) Correll; Ibidium odoratum (Nutt.) House) Florida range: nearly throughout the mainland. Common name: scented ladies�-tresses.

Neither Correll (1950) nor Luer (1972) report when this species was first collected in the US but the type locality is along the borders of the Neuse River at New Bern, North Carolina and was described as Neottia odorata by Nuttall in 1834. This species was long considered to be a variety of Spiranthes cernua, but recent authors regard it as a separate species. It is typically found in areas with a long hydroperiod, especially around the edges of deep sloughs in full sun. It is found around the Fakahatchee Swamp, Corkscrew Swamp, and Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County, and there is a population in the Taylor Slough area of Everglades National Park along the main park road. Recent road and bridge work in Everglades National Park at Taylor Slough eliminated a large number of plants, but now that the work is complete, the remaining population will likely colonize the refurbished area. Paul Martin Brown (pers. comm.) points out that the Taylor Slough plants are smaller in stature than those found further north in the state.



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SPIRANTHES PRAECOX (Walter) S. Watson [Synonymy: Ibidium praecox (Walter) House] Florida range: nearly throughout the mainland. Common name: greenvein ladies�-tresses.

Current literature does not mention when this orchid was first collected in the US but it was described as Limodorum praecox by Thomas Walter in 1788. This is a common, widespread species of the southeastern US, but in southern Florida it is rare and local. It is found sparingly around the Fakahatchee Swamp and Corkscrew Swamp in Collier County but is entirely absent from Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. TRIPHORA GENTIANOIDES (Sw.) Ames & Schltr. [Synonymy: Triphora cubensis (Rchb. f.) Ames] Florida range: Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade, Lee, Palm Beach, Pinellas and St. Lucie Counties. Common name: gentian nodding caps.

Naturalist Charles Torrey Simpson found this orchid for the first time in Florida in 1919 growing along the Little River in Miami-Dade County. For many years this species was apparently restricted to Miami-Dade County in the US, persisting as a �weed� in residential areas of the Kendall-Coral Gables area. It also occurred in natural forest communities such as Matheson Hammock. Luer (1972) states �that this apparently tenacious little orchid has not been successful in establishing itself in other southern parts of the state is surprising.�



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Well, it has had some success in recent years and is now becoming increasingly common northward. Chuck McCartney (pers. comm.) reports finding it growing in several different locations in Broward County and he collected a herbarium specimen from northeastern Collier County in 1996 (the first Collier record). It has been suggested that the sod industry has been responsible for its recent range expansion in Florida, but this would mean that seeds had to have invaded the sod fields of Hendry and Glades counties, or elsewhere in southernFloridawhere sod is grown. VANILLA BARBELLATA Rchb. f. [Vanilla articulata Northr.] Florida range: Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Common name: wormvine orchid.

It is unknown when this orchid was first discovered in Florida but it was likely just after the turn of the 20th century. As Correll (1950) points out, it was J. K. Small, J. J. Carter, and A. A. Eaton who began extensive plant explorations in the southern portions of Florida and they are credited with the discovery of numerous species of tropical orchids between 1900 and 1905. This vining species is still locally common in and around the small hammocks, mangrove tree islands, and mangrove-buttonwood forests from Madeira Bay to Cape Sable northward through the Everglades backcountry. It is also local in the Upper and Lower Florida Keys,



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where it has become less common due to illegal collecting and habitat destruction. VANILLA PHAEANTHA Rchb. f. Florida range: Collier County. Common name: leafy vanilla.

Although Luer (1972) illustrated this species on a range map for southern Florida and the West Indies (including the Bahamas), its actual range encompasses southern Florida(Collier County) the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the islands of Trinidad and Tobago in the Lesser Antilles. Miami-Dade County records are the result of failed attempts by Frank Craighead to introduce this species into Everglades National Park from plants he collected in the Fakahatchee Swamp. There are even Everglades National Park herbarium specimens at the South Florida Research Center and this species is listed by Loope and Avery (1980) on the park�s checklist of plants. There are, however, no naturally occurring plants of this species known in Florida outside of the Fakahatchee Swamp.

David and Sally Black (1980) list this species for Big Cypress National Preserve but in a conversation with Sally Black, the author found that they had listed it on the basis of a sterile �leafy vanilla� they had found in the Roberts Lake Strand area of Big Cypress National Preserve. There are no other sightings in Big Cypress National Preserve and it is unfortunate that this tentative record remains



54

unconfirmed. Another leafy vanilla that occurs in southern Florida is Vanilla planifolia (see the �Naturalized Exotics and Local Escapes� section in this report), and it is possible that the Big Cypress National Preserve plant could have been this species as well.

COMMON BLETIA PURPUREA (Lam.) DC.] Florida range: from Lee and Palm Beach counties southward into the Lower Florida Keys. Common name: pine-pink.

Neither Correll (1950) nor Luer (1972) state when this species was first discovered in Florida. It is quite frequent in the rocky pinelands of southeastern Florida and the Lower Florida Keys (Big Pine Key), and it can also be found in the deep shade of the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County, often growing on floating logs and cut-off cypress stumps. The author has also seen plants in marl soils of Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park where graders created a linear mound of soil along firebreaks through marl prairies. Some populations are cleistogamous (the flowers become fertilized before opening). According to J. A. Stevenson, in his 1926 U. S. Department of Agriculture publication �Foreign Plant Diseases,� this orchid is occasionally attacked by a rust, Uredo nigropunctata, that causes devitilization of affected plants.



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CALOPOGON TUBEROSUS (L.) Britton et al. [Synonymy: Calopogon pulchellus R. Br., Limodourm tuberosum L.; CALOPOGON TUBEROSUS var. SIMPSONII (Small) Magrath [Synonymy: Calopogon pulchellus R. Br. var. simpsonii (Small) Ames; Limodorum simpsonii Small;] Florida range: the nominate variety throughout the mainland and south to Collier, Broward, Palm Beach and Lee Counties; var. simpsonii restricted to Collier, Monroe and Miami-Dade. Common name: grass-pink; tuberous grass-pink.

This is one of our most common terrestrial orchids. It ranges throughout the eastern US to Newfoundland, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. It was first collected in colonial Virginia by John Clayton in the 1730s and described by Gronovius in 1739 (Luer, 1972). It is an inhabitant of wet prairies, marshes, low pinelands and, occasionally, along roadside ditches. Flowers vary from deep pink to pure white, and sometimes white-flowered plants form entire populations. It flowers in more profusion during seasons following fire in its habitat. ENCYCLIA TAMPENSIS (Lindl.) Small [Synonymy: Epidendrum tampense Lindl.] Florida range: in all of Florida in and south of Flagler, Volusia, Seminole, Lake, Levy, and Citrus Counties. Common name: butterfly orchid.

This is Florida�s most common epiphytic orchid, although it is absent from the northernmost



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counties. It was first discovered near Tampa, Hillsborough County, in 1846 by John Torrey, who sent specimens to John Lindley (Correll, 1950). It is known only from Florida and the islands of Andros and Great Abaco in the Bahamas. It is variable in flower size, color, and fragrance throughout its range. Albino forms with pure white lips occur rarely. It is found in extremely variable habitats, ranging from dry scrub to dense, wooded swamps. In the northern parts of its range it survives hard freezes.

This has been one of Florida�s most collected orchids, principally because of its abundance and small, but pretty, flowers. Fortunately, it usually thrives in cultivation so there is an abundant seed source outside of its natural habitats. It is often quick to recolonize areas where it has been nearly eliminated. EPIDENDRUM AMPHISTOMUM A. Rich. [Epidendrum anceps Jacq. misapplied, Amphiglottis anceps (Jacq.) Britton, misapplied] Florida range: Broward, Collier, Miami-Dade, Lee, and Monroe counties. Common name: dingy-flowered star orchid.

The first collection of this species (as E. anceps) in Florida was probably made by Oakes and Blanche Ames from �Gobbler�s Head� near Naples, Collier County, on March 12, 1904 (Correll, 1950). It is a rather frequently encountered orchid in the Fakahatchee Swamp, Corkscrew Swamp, and Big



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Cypress National Preserve. It is especially common in pop ash and pond-apple sloughs but is occasionally found in upland hardwood hammocks as well. Frank Craighead moved numerous plants into the hammocks of Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park and some of these relocations still persist. Some plants produce purplish-red leaves (forma rubrifolium) which has no relation to the amount of sunlight the plant receives. Purplish-red plants can be found growing directly next to typical green-leaved plants on the same tree. One odd characteristic of this species is that it sometimes produces a new bloom spike out of the previous year�s spike. EPIDENDRUM RIGIDUM Jacq. [Synonymy: Spathiger rigidus (Jacq.) Small] Florida range: from Broward and Lee counties southward on the mainland. Common name: stiff-flower star orchid; rigid epidendrum.

This species was first collected in Floridaby A. H. Curtiss near Miami in 1877 (Luer, 1972). It was collected again by J. K. Small, J. J. Carter, and A. A. Eaton between Cutler and Camp Longview, Miami-Dade County, in November 1903 (Correll, 1950). It tends to form mat-like colonies on trees and is frequent in wooded swamps and hardwood forests. It often grows among resurrection fern on the branches of live oaks, making it difficult to see until dry weather causes the fern to shrivel up.



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EULOPHIA ALTA (L.) Fawc. and Rendle [Synonymy: Platypus alta (L.) Small] Florida range: central and southern mainland. Common name: wild coco.

This terrestrial orchid was first collected in Florida by A. W. Chapman in 1875, who found it growing along the Caloosahatchee River (Correll, 1950). This is a common plant of roadsides, hammock margins, edges of prairies, hardwood swamps, and other moist habitats. The pleated, upright leaves can easily be mistaken for seedling palms. Luer (1972) points out that this orchid�s greatest enemy is the state road department that sprays herbicide along roadside ditches. Numerous plants that once grew along the edges of flood control canals in Miami-Dade County were killed by herbicide spraying conducted by South Florida Water Management District (author, pers. obsv.). It is common in Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, the Fakahatchee Swamp, and Corkscrew Swamp. HABENARIA ODONTOPETALA Rchb. f. [Synonymy: Habenaria strictissima Rchb. f. var. odontopetala (Rchb. f.) L. O. Williams; Habenella odontopetala (Rchb. f.) Small; Habenaria floribunda Lindl. misapplied] Florida range: central and southern peninsula. Common name: toothpetal orchid; toothpetal false rein orchid.

This species probably qualifies as Florida�s most common woodland terrestrial orchid. It can be



59

found in virtually every hardwood hammock and wooded swamp in Collier, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. Oddly, Dan Austin, in his published list of the vascular plants of the Fakahatchee Swamp (1990), listed this species as �doubtful.� It is actually quite common there and can be found growing on the old railroad beds (tram roads) or semi-epiphytically on cypress stumps and floating logs. HABENARIA QUINQUESETA (Michx.) Eaton [Synonymy: Habenaria habenaria (L.) Small] Florida range: throughout the mainland and in Leon County. Common name: longhorn false rein orchid.

This species is believed to have been collected for the first time in the US by Charles Wright in Texas before 1853 (Correll, 1950). It has a rather wide habitat range and, in southern Florida, can be found in wet flatwoods as well as in dry, rocky pinelands where it survives fire. It occurs sporadically across Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park, and in the Richmond Pineland complex south of MetroZoo (Miami-Dade County). It is also abundant in the pine flatwoods of Corkscrew Swamp, and it is sporadic around the Fakahatchee Swamp (Collier County). The author has also observed it flowering in the ditches along SR 29 bordering the Fakahatchee Swamp. POLYSTACHYA CONCRETA (Jacq.) Garay and H. R. Sweet [Synonymy: Polystachya extinctoria Rchb.



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f.; Polystachya flavescens (Lindl.) J. J. Sm.; Polystachya minuta (Aubl.) Britton ex Small] Florida range: central and southern peninsula. Common name: greater yellowspike orchid.

This species was first described by Swartz in 1800 as Cranichis luteola, and he stated that it was �parasitic� on trees in mountains of Hispaniola and Jamaica. It was commonly believed at that time that all epiphytic plants were parasites. In Florida, this globally-widespread species was first collected by A. P. Garber near Miami, Miami-Dade County, in 1877 (Correll, 1950). It is a frequent inhabitant of hardwood hammocks, wooded swamps, and coastal mangrove-buttonwood forests of southern Florida. Surprisingly, it is absent from the Florida Keys. PONTHIEVA RACEMOSA (Walter) C. Mohr Florida range: throughout the mainland to the central Panhandle. Common name: hairy shadow witch. This species was probably collected for the first time in the US in October 1852 in Suggsville, Clarke County, Alabama (Correll, 1950). It can form large colonies in hammocks, moist woods, on limestone ledges, along the edge of limestone solution holes, and stream banks. It is much more common in central and northern Florida than in the southern counties. It is locally common on some tram roads of the Fakahatchee Swamp and in some areas of Big Cypress National Preserve (Collier County). In Miami-Dade County, it can be found



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sporadically in a few hammocks of Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park (often around solution holes) and around the numerous small tree islands of the East Everglades west of Homestead General Airport.

PRESUMED EXTIRPATED BLETIA PATULA Hook. Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: flor de pasmo.

Luer (1972) reported that this species was collected by Manly Boss while on a botanical field trip led by Roy Woodbury in �a scrubby pineland southwest of Miami, Florida.� Woodbury and Boss found what they reported as two colonies of orchids with large pseudobulbs. When the collected specimen flowered the following spring, it was determined to be an albino form of Bletia patula, and a voucher specimen substantiates the find. This collection appears to be a one-time circumstance. The photos published by Luer (1972) were taken in 1962 of a cultivated plant form Puerto Rico, which was a typical pink-flowered form. Ruben Sauleda (pers. comm.) believes that the plant that Luer photographed was not Bletia patula. Also, Keith Bradley (pers. comm.) saw an unmounted, unlabelled specimen at the Buswell Herbarium. BRASSIA CAUDATA (L.) Lindl. Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: spider orchid.



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J. K. Small and C. A. Mosier found this orchid for the first time in Florida in Nixon-Lewis Hammock, Miami-Dade County, in 1915 (Correll, 1950). What little remains of Nixon-Lewis Hammock is at the end of Avocado Drive (SW 296 Street) where it meets Loveland Road (SW 217 Avenue). Correll (1950) also states that �it has not been observed in Florida since April 1917 when J. K. Small found it again in a hammock at the eastern end of Long Pine Key in the Everglades.�

Frank Craighead�s notes indicate that he moved this species into a number of hammocks on Long Pine Key in the 1960s. These plants were likely taken from hammocks near Homestead (Sykes Hammock and Nixon-Lewis Hammock) to protect them from collectors who had discovered the locations. Collectors also found Craighead�s introduction sites and illegally removed the plants from the national park.

George Avery�s notes confirm that at least one plant still existed in a remote hammock on Long Pine Key (Deer Hammock) and he saw it in flower on May 11, 1976. This plant was killed by the freeze of January 19-20, 1977, which brought snow and 17° temperatures to Miami. Avery revisited the site and, in his notes taken on February 25, 1977, he states: �Leaves all dead. One of the two pods fell off at touch, and OLB [Everglades National Park biologist



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Oron L. Bass] took it to be flasked.� The seeds, however, did not germinate (Bass, pers. comm.).

Although rumors circulate that this species may still occur in the East Everglades region of Everglades National Park, it is generally believed to be extirpated. Whether or not any genuine, Florida-collected specimens still exist in private collections is unknown. Fred Fuchs, Jr. claimed to still have Florida stock at his orchid nursery in Goulds, Florida, but a check by the author following Fuchs� death turned up only plants of the related, exotic Brassia maculata. BULBOPHYLLUM PACHYRHACHIS (A. Rich.) Griseb. Florida range: Collier County Common name: rattail orchid.

This species was first discovered in Florida by Fred Fuchs, Jr. in 1956 while wading through a pond-apple slough in the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County (Luer, 1972). Even then, only a few dozen plants were known to exist. During the next six years collectors decimated the population and Carlyle Luer (1972) stated that �today only a few stray plants remain, secreted away in some inaccessible niche.� In 1977, Luer drew a detailed map of the area for the author, who spent three full days conducting a methodical and detailed search for this orchid to no avail. In 1978, the author accompanied Henry Brown, a knowledgeable orchid grower from Miami, into an area of the Fakahatchee



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Swamp where he had seen plants many years before (this turned out to be the same area where Luer had seen the species). Again, no plants were found. More recent attempts at rediscovering this species have been made by Florida State Park biologist Mike Owen and others without success. CRANICHIS MUSCOSA Sw. Florida range: Collier and Miami-Dade counties. Common name: cypressknee helmet orchid.

This species was recorded twice in Florida and has not been seen since. J. E. Layne found it growing in Lee County (the area where he found it is now Collier County) in May 1903, and A. A. Eaton found it in Miami-Dade County in December of the same year (Correll, 1950). There is probably little hope of rediscovering this species in Florida although it is a diminutive plant that could be very easily overlooked. There is also the possibility of another chance reintroduction from the nearby Bahamas or Cuba. EPIDENDRUM ACUNAE Dressler [Epidendrum blancheanum Urb.; Epidendrum ramosum Jacq., misapplied] Florida range: Collier County. Common name: Acuna�s star orchid.

This species was not known to occur in the US until Raleigh Burney discovered it in a remote slough in the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County in 1962 (Luer, 1972). Luer states that �several dozen plants have been discovered within an acre or two of



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dense forest [in the Fakahatchee Swamp], which stands in a little deeper water than other sloughs.� It is not known to occur outside of the Fakahatchee Swamp, although, George Avery�s notes reveal that during a trip to Roberts Lake Strand (Big Cypress National Preserve) on February 28, 1978, Avery and Everglades National Park biologist Oron �Sonny� Bass walked �via tram from Loop Road [and] detoured south from [the] tram into a cypress swamp where Sonny saw a possible plant (sterile) of this species.� There have been no confirmed reports of this species in recent years. MACRADENIA LUTESCENS R. Brown Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: Trinidad macradenia.

A. A. Eaton first discovered this orchid in Florida in Royal Palm Hammock (Paradise Key) in Miami-Dade County in December 1903 (Correll, 1950), which is now a part of Everglades National Park. Donovan Correll collected this species in July 1936 in Sykes Hammock (now Fuchs Hammock) west of Homestead. Frank Craighead�s notes indicate that he moved this species into a number of hammocks on Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park in an effort to expand the population and protect them from collectors. This effort failed. Craighead reported to George Avery that he had found 42 plants of this species in Osteen Hammock on Long Pine Key, but by 1964, collectors had taken all but two plants. These two plants were still present



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in June 1966 but disappeared sometime after that date. This species was highly sought by collectors. Although there is a very recent unsubstantiated and dubious report of a �large population� in a hammock south of Loop Road in Everglades National Park, this species is presumed extirpated. ONCIDIUM CARTHAGENENSE (Jacq.) Sw. [Synonymy: Lophiaris carthingenensis (Jacq.) Braem] Florida range: Monroe County. Common name: coot bay dancing lady orchid. Correll (1950) and Luer (1972) both reported that this species had been found by J. K. Small �south of Coot Bay in Monroe County, Florida� in 1916. This was a one-time collection and a voucher specimen substantiates the find. Correll (1950) states that �plants of the original collection from Monroe County were grown and flowered in April.� This species very closely resembles another native species, Oncidium undulatum (see the �Rare� section in this report), so inspections would need to be conducted during their flowering season if there is any hope of finding other plants plants of O. carthagenense. PELEXIA ADNATA (Sw.) Spreng. [Synonymy: Spiranthes adnata (Sw.) Benth.] Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: hachuela.

This terrestrial orchid was first discovered in Florida by the author in November 1977 in Fuchs Hammock, Miami-Dade County (Hammer, 1981). At first it was mistakenly identified as Eltroplectris



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calcarata which, vegetatively, it closely resembled, although the leaves were light green with conspicuous white spots on the blade. In June 1978, George Avery made a chance inspection of the station and found two plants in flower. Avery and the author made a detailed search of the surrounding area and found a total of six plants growing among a thicket of the exotic aroid, Syngonium podophyllum, which helped conceal the plants. Avery identified the plants as Spiranthes adnata and found a line drawing in Flora of the Lesser Antilles � Orchidaceae (Garay and Sweet, Harvard University, 1974). Avery deposited a voucher specimen along with photographs in the herbarium at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Carlyle Luer was notified of the find and he visited the station with the author in July 1978 while the plants were still in flower. Over the years, the small colony declined and only a single plant could be located by the author in July 1984. By July 1985, the colony had completely disappeared. There is one dubious report of this species occurring within Everglades National Park. This species occurs on Andros Island in the Bahamas and elsewhere in the West Indies. SPIRANTHES AMESIANA Schltr. Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: Ames� ladies�-tresses.

This species was first discovered in Florida in Miami-Dade County by A. A. Eaton, probably in the



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early 1900s when he made of number of discoveries of previously-unknown orchids in Florida. Fritz Hamer of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida wrote a 1984 paper in which he stated that �there are two collections from Eaton, collected in Florida under the same number 921, but one is Spiranthes torta (Thunb.) Garay and Sweet, the other is smaller with smaller flowers and bears a note Spiranthes amesiana Schltr.; the latter one is the holotype specimen of Spiranthes amesiana, with which our specimen is compared.�

More recently, Paul Martin Brown, while working on a new book on Florida orchids, made a determination that one of George Avery�s voucher specimens of Spiranthes torta, collected in 1976 near the Rockdale Pineland Preserve in southern Miami-Dade County, fits the description of Spiranthes amesiana. The author was with Avery when he made the collection (Avery #1254) but, unfortunately, no photographs were taken because we both believed the plant was S. torta. Avery collected the plant because we both decided that the site would soon be developed (we were right). The site was west of the Florida Turnpike and north of SW 144 Street. Paul Martin Brown is optimistic that this species may still be extant in Miami-Dade County. Very close inspections of orchids thought to be Spiranthes torta will be necessary to prove him right.



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VANILLA DILLONIANA Correll [Vanilla eggersii Rolfe, misapplied] Florida range: Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Common name: leafless vanilla.

Correll (1950) curiously states, �Judging from the number of available botanical collections, this is perhaps the most frequent and widespread species of Vanilla in Florida. This species and Vanilla barbellata are two of the three so-called �leafless� Vanillas known to occur in the Western Hemisphere.� He assuredly must have somehow related the number of collections to its abundance, because it was soon extirpated from Florida. He also stated that he had seen specimens from both Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

Luer (1972) reports a collection of this species in Florida from Brickell Hammock by Frank Erwin in 1928. The plant was given to Mr. and Mrs. Young C. Lott, who grew it to flowering size at their home in South Miami. Correll based his description on a plant collected from Brickell Hammock by Ralph Humes in 1946, but it was Lott�s plant that was illustrated by Gordon Dillon for Correll�s book, Native Orchids of North America North of Mexico (1950).

There is a herbarium specimen collected by Ralph Humes in June 1944 from "Monroe County, Cape Sable region" (Correll, 1946). Cape Sable is the southwestern tip of mainland Florida in Everglades National Park. It is unfortunate that Humes did not offer more specific information regarding the



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occurrence of this species on Florida's west coast. To rediscover this species in Florida would require inspecting flowering plants in the mangrove forests and coastal hammocks around the Flamingo area, but the author has photographed Vanilla barbellata in this area and the mosquitoes in May and June border on the unbearable. VANILLA MEXICANA Miller [Vanilla inodora Shiede, misapplied] Florida range: Miami-Dade and Martin counties. Common name: Mexican vanilla.

This vining tropical orchid was first found in Florida by Fred Fuchs, Jr. and his son in a hardwood hammock south of Homestead, Miami-Dade County, in 1953 (Luer, 1972). At the time, it occurred in at least a half dozen hammocks within a 6-mile radius of the area where it was first discovered (Luer, 1972). Collectors decimated the populations within a short period of time. It had not been reported again in Florida until the early 1990s when Ruben Sauleda and others reported two new stations in Martin County. Recently, however, these populations also appear to be the target of collectors because the population has severely dwindled since its discovery, even though the plants are in a preserve. This species is in a precarious situation that needs immediate attention from either state or Martin County officials and/or conservation organizations if it is expected to survive much longer. It is included in this report solely on its historic occurrence in Miami-Dade County.



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NATURALIZED EXOTICS AND LOCAL ESCAPES BLETIA FLORIDA (Salisb.) R. Br. Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: none.

In 1977, Nancy Zareski (now Nancy Edmondson) and the author found a pot of orchids growing in the yard of Mrs. Isabel Krome in Homestead. Zareski and the author were caretakers of the home following Mrs. Krome�s death. When the plant flowered in March 1978, it was identified as Bletia florida, a species native to Cuba and Jamaica (florida is Latin for �flowering�). The plant was moved ca. 1980 to a residence at 22410 SW 125 Avenue in Goulds, Florida where it flourished after being planted in marl soil. In 1981, three seedlings were observed growing near the parent plant.

This species is still being cultivated at the residence of Don Keller (Cutler Ridge), at the nursery of Jon and Mary Foote (Redland), and the author (Homestead). Jon Foote (pers. comm.) reports seedlings frequently showing up in pots of other plants and the seeds germinate readily when planted in wet sphagnum. Seedlings have also been observed at the author�s residence. To date, it is only known as a local escape.



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CYMBIDIUM ALOIFOLIUM (L.) Sw. Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: aloe-leaved cymbidium.

This is an occasionally cultivated epiphytic species in South Florida. It is native to India, Sri Lanka, Burma, and southern China to Java and Sumatra. Seed capsules are readily produced in Florida but the pollinator is unknown. Cymbidium aloifolium was one of many species cultivated by Henry Brown at his orchid nursery (Eureka Orchids) located 1-mile east of Krome Avenue on SW 184 Street (Eureka Drive). His residence was at the same location.

During a visit to his nursery by the author,

Brown pointed out a number of young plants of this species that had volunteered on the exposed root mass of a pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii), These seedlings were first noticed in the early 1970s and were photographed by the author. Brown sold his nursery and residence in the early 1980s. Because this species demonstrated its ability to escape cultivation at Brown�s residence, it has the potential to do so again wherever it is grown in southern Florida. CYRTOPODIUM POLYPHYLLUM (Vell) Pabst ex F. Barrios [Synonymy: Cyrtopodium paranaense Schltr.; Cyrtopodium andersonii, (Lamb. ex Andrews) R. Br., misapplied] Florida range: Miami-Dade County. Common name: parana cowhorn orchid.



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Luer (1972) misidentified this orchid in Florida as Cyrtopodium andersonii, native to the West Indies and tropical America. In May 1976, the author sent flowers from Florida material to Kiat Tan of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota for identification. Tan determined that the flowers belonged to Cyrtopodium paranaense, a native of South America.

According to George Avery�s notes, on June 15, 1971, Betty McCormack mentioned to Avery, who was attending a Native Plant Workshop meeting at Castellow Hammock, that a Cyrtopodium had volunteered inside her screen porch in limestone gravel. During that same meeting, it was also mentioned that a Cyrtopodium had volunteered on an old baseball cap beneath a bench in Fred Fuchs� greenhouse. Nearly one year later, on May 12, 1972, McCormack brought Avery a leafy stem and an inflorescence from her plant, which he pressed (Avery #1155) and deposited at Fairchild Tropical Garden. With the help of Stanley Kiem, who worked at Fairchild Tropical Garden at the time, Avery tentatively identified the yellow-flowered plant as Cyrtopodium andersonii. Avery also pointed out that he had found a 1964 article in the Florida Orchidist (Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 78-79) by John Beckner that listed this species as native, and an earlier issue of the same publication (Vol. 2, No. 4, 1959) had an article by F. S. Shuttleworth reporting this species along Florida�s



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west coast (there are no voucher specimens to substantiate this find).

Stanley Kiem gave an interesting account of this orchid to George Avery and the author in July 1972. Kiem stated that it was introduced into Florida ca. 1949-50 by John F. Kasper, who operated a nursery in Miami. Kasper had received a specimen from Sao Paulo, Brazil as Cyrtopodium paranaense. Kiem acquired a plant from Kasper in 1951 and cultivated it at this Miami residence. It escaped cultivation in Kiem�s yard and naturalized in a nearby pineland. Kiem told the author that it spread five miles in five years. Kasper closed his orchid business in 1954 and moved to another Miami residence, taking this orchid with him. Three years later, Kiem found plants naturalized in the lawn of Ed Jordan, who lived about three blocks away from Kasper. The flowers that the author sent to Kiat Tan came from Jordan�s residence.

Despite earlier claims that it is a native species, it is unquestionably a naturalized exotic in Florida and is treated as such by Wunderlin (1998). There is currently a single, large colony of C. paranaense in a sandy pineland preserve near Kendall Tamiami Aiport in Miami-Dade County. A fire at the site in 1994 had no effect on the population, indicating that it is a fire-adapted species in its native habitat. Liz Golden also reports finding a flowering plant of this species escaped at Bill Baggs Cape



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Florida State Recreation Area on Key Biscayne. The plant was removed and given to George Gann of the Institute for Regional Conservation, who pressed the plant as a voucher. Golden reportedly found another specimen in the same area and that plant was removed and destroyed. At least one other plant has been reported from a sandy pineland preserve a short distance to the east of Kendall Tamiami Airport. That this species has not spread into other areas of southern Florida is surprising, given its propensity to readily escape wherever it is grown. Gustavo Romero has determined that Cyrtopodium polyphyllum is the correct name and that C. paranaense is a synonym.

Plants of this species at the author�s residence have escaped in open mulched areas and the author has also noted that parent plants occasionally produce vegetative offsets from the roots. LAELIA RUBESCENS Lindl.

The natural range of this species is Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. It is a relatively common orchid in the nursery trade in Florida. In April 1999, Russ Clusman and Blanca Alvarez were checking on an unidentified Encyclia growing on an oak within Matheson Hammock Park (Miami-Dade County) when they found a single cluster of orchids on a separate oak tree. In October 1999, the plant flowered and it turned out to be a white-flowered form of Laelia rubescens. Because the



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plant had pseudobulbs ranging in size from pea-size to fully mature, it is believed that this plant had grown from seed rather than being purposely planted there. The location is directly next to Fairchild Tropical Garden, so it is possible that this is a chance occurrence of this species spreading from seed from plants cultivated at the Garden or somewhere else nearby. OECEOCLADES MACULATA (Lindl.) Lindl. [Synonymy: Eulophidium maculatum (Lindl.) Pfitz.] Florida range: central and southern mainland and the Florida Keys. Common name: monk orchid.

This species was first discovered in Florida in 1974 by Robert Grimm, who found it colonizing the understory of Matheson Hammock in Miami-Dade County (Hammer, 1981). Carlyle Luer accompanied the author to the site and Luer identified the plants as Eulophidium maculatum, a native of Africa and South America. Herbarium specimens were deposited at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota and at Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami. This rapidly dispersing orchid has since invaded natural habitats and disturbed sites throughout South Florida and much of Central Florida, and is expected to continue its advance northward. It has already moved as far north as Brevard and Sarasota counties. University of Florida professor, William L. Stern, collected plants in Miami-Dade County to study, and those that he cultivated at Gainesville (Alachua County) escaped cultivation and managed to survive



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several winters before succumbing to a prolonged hard freeze.

Although this species is treated as an exotic in

Florida, its appearance here may be the result of a natural migration northward from tropical America as a result of global warming. Stephen R. Johnson (1993) writes, �the rapid migration of this species [Oeceoclades maculata} from the tropical regions of Brazil and Puerto Rico into the subtropical and warm temperate regions of the Florida peninsula may be indicative of gradual climatic change.� The rapid colonizing of the West Indies by O. maculata is well-documented, and the species spread across Puerto Rico in approximately 20 years (Johnson, 1993). It has been reported that O. maculata originally escaped into Miami-Dade County�s Matheson Hammock from Fairchild Tropical Garden, but a check by the author in 1974 revealed that this species has never been accessioned at the Garden and none of the staff ever recall propagating it there. By whatever means it arrived in Florida, it is certainly here to stay. VANILLA PLANIFOLIA Andrews [Synonymy: Vanilla vanilla (L.) H. Karst.] Florida range: Collier and Miami-Dade counties. Common name: commercial vanilla.

This is the vanilla orchid of vanilla extract fame. The Franciscan friar, Bernardino de Sahagun,



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is believed to be the first person to write about this vanilla in Mexico in 1529 (Correll, 1950). He reported that the Aztecs used "tlilxochitl" in cacao, sweetened with honey, and sold the spice in marketplaces. It is generally believed that this vining orchid was introduced into Florida in pre-Columbian times (before the arrival of Columbus). There are botanists who conclude that plants that were in Florida prior to European contact should be considered native to the state, because they regard Man as a natural vector. Using this philosophy it would mean that this species should be considered native to Florida and not a naturalized exotic. Wunderlin (1998) and other authors, however, list it as an exotic.

In South Florida, it is generally found in areas that were once inhabited by indigenous Indians, the Calusa and Tequesta. There is, in fact, a spreading population of this species within Addison Hammock (Miami-Dade County), a location that also harbors a Tequesta burial mound and kitchen midden. It is also known from the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County where it was observed by the author in 1989. Vegetatively, it is difficult to separate from Vanilla phaeantha (see the "Uncommon" section of this report). While Vanilla planifolia does occasionally set capsules in Florida, it apparently does not spread very readily from seed (if at all) in its adopted land. It spreads easily from cuttings. Plants root to trees and then usually hang freely back toward the ground.



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When stems break, they re-root and climb back up the next available tree, usually becoming epiphytic with age.

Some authors have relegated this species as a synonym of Vanilla mexicana Mill. (see Wunderlin, 1998). More recently, however, it has been determined that Vanilla mexicana is the correct name for what has been referred to as Vanilla inodora (see the Presumed Extirpated section of this report). VANILLA POMPONA Schltr.

The inclusion of this species is based upon a single specimen collected by Roy Woodbury, part of the Buswell Herbarium that is now at Fairchild Tropical Garden. The only label information was "southern Dade County, May 1945". It is not surprising considering that it is a showy species that is popular in cultivation and may very well have persistent around an old homesite or a piece had been tossed out in yard trash. ZEUXINE STRATEUMATICA (L.) Schltr. Florida range: nearly throughout. Common name: soldier�s orchid; lawn orchid.

The first documented report of this Asian orchid�s occurrence in Florida rests on a photo taken by George Nelson of three plants he found in January 1936 west of Felsmere, Indian River County (Correll, 1950). Since that early discovery, this species spread rapidly in Florida. It is generally



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believed that it arrived here from seed that had contaminated centipede grass seed shipped from China in the early 1930s. Luer (1972) points out that this species spreads not only from seed, but produces offsets from the roots of mature plants after they have died back following anthesis. This is a ubiquitous orchid, being found in a variety of natural habitats as well as lawns, greenhouses, groves, and mowed road shoulders.

ERRONEOUS REPORTS ENCYCLIA HODGEANA (A. D. Hawkes) Beckner [Synonymy: Epidendrum hodgeanum A. D. Hawkes]

In February 1981, Tony Engrazio reported to Nancy Zareski (now Nancy Edmondson) that he had found a population of this species several years before, somewhere near Gannet Strand in Big Cypress National Preserve (Collier County). Following Engrazio�s instructions, the author made an attempt to locate this population in June 1981, but only found plants of a related native species, Encyclia tampensis. In July 1981, Engrazio claimed to have made a second attempt to find the population but did not think that he had walked far enough. In August 1981, Bruce Brezipir of Jones & Scully Orchids told Zareski that he had seen plants of this species in cultivation in Engrazio�s private collection and doubted the authenticity of his �discovery.� There are no other reports of this species occurring in Florida.



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LEOCHILUS LABIATUS (Sw.) Kuntze Luer (1972) reported this species as occurring in the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County based on a report by William Osment, who claimed to have found it there in 1957. Although Osment reported to Luer that he had �observed numerous plants in the immediate area on many occasions,� Luer never personally observed any wild plants of this species in Florida. The photos published by Luer (1972) were of plants cultivated by Osment in his greenhouse. There are no voucher specimens to support the presence of this species in Florida and there are no further reports of its occurrence in the state. It is not listed by Wunderlin (1998) and is generally regarded as a hoax. MAXILLARIA SANGUINEA Rolfe According to an article by Chuck McCartney (1993), a specimen of Maxillaria sanguinea was reportedly collected from the Pinecrest region of Big Cypress National Preserve, Collier County, in 1947. The plant was given to Alex Hawkes for identification but it died before it bloomed, so it was impossible to have it positively identified. The dead, sterile specimen was then forwarded to Charles Schweinfurth at the Botanical Museum of Harvard University, who tentatively identified it as M. sanguinea, a native of Costa Rica and Panama. McCartney went on to report that John Atwood of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, and an expert on the genus Maxillaria, said,



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�I don�t have any doubt that the plant is Maxillaria sanguinea, all right, but I don�t know how it got there [the Big Cypress Swamp]. This is pretty improbable.� RESTREPIELLA OPHIOCEPHALA (Lindl.) Garay and Dunsterville

Luer (1972) reports that this species was found in the Fakahatchee Swamp in Collier County by Edgar R. Thomasson, Jr. in 1963. Thomasson claimed that he had collected plants �which looked a little different to him� from a pop ash slough (Luer, 1972). When one of these plants flowered, it proved to be Restrepiella ophiocephala, although it was thought at the time to be a large-flowered form of the native Pleurothallis gelida. Luer (1972) also states that a second collection of R. ophiocephala was made in a different area of the swamp. The photos that Luer published were of a cultivated specimen. There are no voucher specimens to support the presence of this species in Florida and the reports were likely a hoax. It is not listed by Wunderlin (1998). SPIRANTHES SINENSIS (Persoon) Ames

On March 28, 1996, John Beckner, of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, and Donna Burch, of the Orchid Conservation Committee, Inc., discovered what they believe is this Asian species growing in "sand shell beach sand" on an island just offshore of Florida's gulf coast in Collier County (Beckner, 1996). The author has been in contact with both Dick Wunderlin and Paul



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Martin Brown regarding this orchid. It is listed in this report as an erroneous report on the basis of Paul Martin Brown's personal observations. Specimens at USF [University of South Florida] and SEL [Marie Selby Botanical Gardens] labeled as S. sinensis were examined by Chuck Sheviak and Paul Martin Brown and all were determined to be aberrant S. vernalis. Paul Martin Brown visited the site where the original collections were made and they also were determined by him to be aberrant S. vernalis. Literature cited: Austin, D. F. et al. 1990. Vascular Plants of Fakahatchee Strand State

Preserve. Florida Scientist 53(2): 89-117. Beckner, J. 1996. Spiranthes sinensis (Persoon) Ames Found in Florida.

North American Native Orchid Journal 2(2): 154-158. Black, D. W. and S. Black. 1980. Plants of Big Cypress National

Preserve: A Preliminary Checklist of Vascular Plants. South Florida Research Center Report T-587.

Brown, P. M. 1999. Recent Taxonomic and Distributional Notes From Florida 1. North American Native Orchid Journal 5(1): 11-15.

_______2000. Govenia floridana (Orchidaceae), A New Species Endemic to Southern Florida, U.S.A. North American Native Orchid Journal 6(3): 231-240.

Catling, P. M. and C. J. Sheviak. 1993. Taxonomic Notes on some North American Orchids. Lindleyana 8(2): 77-81.

Correll, D. S. 1946. The American Species of "Leafless" Vanillas. American Orchid Society Bulletin 15: 328-333.

Correll, D. S. 1950. Native Orchids of North America north of Mexico. Chronica Botanica Co., Waltham, MA.

Hammer, R. L. 1981. Finding New Orchids: A Contribution to the Orchidaceae of Florida. Fairchild Tropical Garden Bulletin 36: 16-18.

_______1997. Have We Lost the Young Palm Orchid? Florida Native Plant Society: The

Palmetto 17(1): 8-9.



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Johnson, S. R. 1993. Photosynthesis and Aspects of Phenology of the Rapidly Dispersing Orchid, Oeceoclades maculata. Lindleyana 8(2): 69-72.

Lakela, O. and F. C. Craighead. 1965. Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Collier, Dade,and Monroe Counties, Florida. Fairchild Tropical Garden and the Univ. of Miami Press, Coral Gables.

Loope, L. L. and G. N. Avery. 1980. Plants of Everglades National Park: A Preliminary Checklist of Vascular Plants. South Florida Research Center Report T-574.

Luer, C. A. 1972. The Native Orchids of Florida. New York Botanical Garden, New York.

McCartney, C. 1993. A New Name for Florida�s other Maxillaria. The Florida Scientist 36(3): 25-29.

Romero-Gonzalez, G. and P. M. Brown. 2000. Galeandra bicarinata (Cyrtopodiinae, Orchidaceae), A New Species from Florida and the Greater Antilles. North American Native Orchid Journal 6(2): 77-156.

Small, J. K. 1933. Manual of the Southeastern Flora. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.

Wunderlin, R. P. 1998. A Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Roger L. Hammer, Avocado Dr., Homestead, FL [email protected] Roger is a senior naturalist for Miami-Dade Parks Department's southern region and Director of Castellow Hammock Nature Center. He is also a part-time instructor and fieldtrip leader for Fairchild Tropical Garden. Roger was the recipient of the first Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award presented by the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society in 1982 for "outstanding, consistent and constant service in the areas of education, research, promotion, and preservation of native plants." He also received the second Charles Brookfield Medal awarded by Tropical Audubon Society in 1996 for "outstanding service in protection of our natural resources." and is a member of the Board of Directors of Tropical Audubon Society. Roger was the opening ceremony speaker at the Eleventh World Orchid Conference held in Miami in 1984 and keynote speaker at the Florida Native Plant Society's 17th Annual State Conference held in Gainesville, Florida in 1997. He is also the author of numerous articles on the flora and fauna of southern Florida and is currently writing a field guide to Everglades wildflowers for Falcon Publishing, due to be published in spring 2002.

Empiricist: PHILISTINES

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PHILISTINES

The Slow Empiricist Philistine n. An ignorant, narrow-minded person, devoid of culture and indifferent to art. Funk and Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary N-Z The thrust of this article is aimed at the long-suffering spouses, friends and companions of the avid orchid enthusiast. It was prompted by my attending a disastrous concert that featured the works of early 20th Century musical composers. The first selection by Shostakovich was lively and colorful but loud to my ears. The second piece by Prokofiev degenerated into clashing noise that gave me a sharp headache. I bounded out of the hall during intermission and waited in my car for my fellow musical enthusiasts who remained through the rest of the concert. When we met at the conclusion to travel back to our homes my friends were utterly amazed that I had preferred to sit out in my car than to hear what for them was the glorious music from a world-class symphony orchestra. What was heavenly to their ears was cacophony to mine. As I let my subconscious mind wrestle with my behavior at the concert later that night, during


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my sleep, I started thinking about how likes and dislikes dictate human beings' behaviors. I like melodic classical works that were produced by such composers as Hayden, Beethoven and Mozart, I even like some of the early 20th century composers like Stravinsky but repetitive work like Ravel's Bolero are hard for me to really enjoy.

Then I thought about art works and how many people are turned off by some of the later artworks produced by artists who apparently liked to splash around and daub garish paint on their canvases. As a trained fine artist, however, I can appreciate what they were attempting to produce. I don't necessarily enjoy their results but I can appreciate them. I concluded that maybe all I needed was to know more about the musical genre that my friends enjoyed. That brought me to thinking about orchid enthusiasts and the frustrations some of them encounter from their friends and especially from their spouses who are not very supportive of their work with plants. Probably most of you people who love to learn about orchids from the reading of literature about them to the actual fieldwork in finding living specimens have encountered some amazing looks, or worse from some of your acquaintances when you waxed enthusiastic about native orchids. My own son would prefer a neatly mowed yard with no flowerbeds to clutter up the landscape or take his time in tending. Like many developers who would go through a beautifully wooded tract of land and clear-cut an area to


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facilitate their building plans, my son likes his natural areas sterile and easy to maintain. Now he wouldn't go out and destroy a fragile habitat, I hope, but being a businessman, he doesn't see the wrong that some businesses engage in when they have little regard for the environment. This causes some concern for me but doesn't negate my love for my son. I think that many nature lovers would find my son's attitude about nature to be reprehensible. There are many of us who have to live with close friends or relatives who have similar or even worse attitudes about the natural environment. How to cope with these attitudes and perhaps change them is a pretty impossible task. People have to want to change or at least be open to the possibilities before true change can occur. It also takes a willingness on both sides to achieve some measure of accord. My son respects my feelings about the environment and since we live at opposite ends of the United States we don't have personal clashes over our attitudes. Clashes do happen in families and among acquaintances that live in close proximity, however. It can also happen that people can accommodate each other's point of view, sometimes quite satisfactorily. I will elucidate some examples of how the two sides have assuaged their differences. I also hope that both protagonists will be open to some of the possible solutions to the tug of war that opposing interests ply among otherwise happy relationships. The first example is about a married couple whose attitudes were companionable towards each


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other. She became increasingly enamored of nature and joined several organizations that promoted the natural environment. She then came in contact with instructors who fired her simmering interests into a roaring passion for plants, especially orchids. Her hard working husband couldn't understand her expanding love for nature but he was willing to try to understand. He began to accompany her on weekend field trips to view natural habitats. Instead of dragging the story out, let me tell you that he became so interested in orchids that he started amassing a huge collection of orchid cultivars in a new greenhouse built for that purpose. Now he is retired, he spends endless hours tending and nurturing these plants and eagerly accompanies his wife on her field trips and classes. His enthusiastic partner looks on in amusement at her husband's devotion to his orchids - a success story that grew out a willingness to try to understand another's passions for plants. There are more recalcitrant Philistines out there, however. These spouses, friends or acquaintances are not so motivated to understand their significant others' passion for the natural world. They are usually self-absorbed in their own world of interests. It is harder for the orchid enthusiast to change these people's attitudes and the obstructing partner probably isn't even aware of how he/she hinders the other. One successful couple worked out a somewhat satisfying compromise. One of the partners enjoyed fishing and hunting as an activity. The other partner learned to like the same activities


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and surreptitiously looked for orchids while they were engaged in the sporting activities that took them into natural environments. By planning trips to possible good orchid spots that also gave the other partner a chance to hunt or fish, the orchid enthusiast got the companionship of a spouse as well as a chance to explore new territory for plants. Vice versa, it gave the hunter/fisherman similar companionship. Although the orchid lover didn't get the sportsman wild about the activity, at least they abetted each other in the quest for their passions. Even orchid lovers find incomprehensible behaviors among their fellow enthusiasts. A couple of winters ago a rare color form of an orchid was discovered in Florida that gained some notoriety when it became endangered by a planned development in the area. The developers were quite willing to set aside a portion of the property to preserve the endangered plant. Unfortunately, ensuing newspaper articles inadvertently gave enough information for someone to go out and dig the plants up. The sad thing is these particular orchids have no real commercial value and because they are very habitat specific in their growing pattern being saprophytic, they will probably die. The only conclusion people can come to is that some enthusiast thought he/she could do a better job at protecting the plants. Their attitude about these plants, however, has successfully thwarted anyone else from enjoying the plants. They are just as bad as the other Philistines who ridicule or otherwise make life difficult for orchid lovers.


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So what can a person do to eradicate the problems? First, if you are a Philistine and recognize yourself in the examples, please rethink your attitudes about your partner's enthusiasm for orchids. Second, if you are a beleaguered orchid enthusiast you might try some of the following suggestions. Patience is probably the best way to alleviate some of the stresses. Perseverance usually pays off as well. Education is another avenue to consider. Compromise can sometimes benefit both viewpoints and bring about join satisfaction. There will always be people who have no understanding about the subject and little regard for the enthusiast's passion. That seems to be part of life.

I hope my exploration will help some of you who have been having problems to seek ways to solve them, possibly employing some of the ideas outlined in the article. If the solution does not come forth easily, at least you now know that you are not alone in the situation. And lastly, if you have an exalted opinion of your ability to preserve an orchid over nature's abilities and are prone to "rescue" plants for your own selfish pleasure, please rethink your attitude. As for my musical shortcomings I will be open to learning more about early 20th Century music, but I reserve the right to walk away from situations that I find intolerable. I would do the same thing on an orchid expedition if I found the weather abominable or the bugs overwhelming. Everyone should have that kind of freedom to make their situation better. Happy solutions, everyone! The Slow Empiricist

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RECENT TAXONOMIC AND DISTRIBUTIONAL NOTES FROM

FLORIDA 9.

Paul Martin Brown

• Spiranthes amesiana

Spiranthes amesiana was described in 1920 by Rudolph Schlechter based upon specimens of Spiranthes torta (as S. tortilis) sent to him by Oakes Ames. Although Ames in 1921 discounted this as a valid species, recent reassessments of Spiranthes in North America by the author resulted the revalidation of the species. Two taxonomic problems appear to exist.

The first problem is one of Schlechter's original description which, although it is extensive, fails to note one of the most significant differences between Spiranthes amesiana and S. torta. That difference being the presence of glands and a very fine pubescence throughout on S. torta and the essential lack of same on S. amesiana. The following emendation is proposed.

Brown: RECENT TAXONOMIC AND DISTRIBUTIONAL NOTES FROM FLORIDA 9.

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Spiranthes amesiana Schlechter emend. P.M. Brown Stem and inflorescence essentially glabrous, unlike Spiranthes torta that is finely pubescent and glandular throughout.

Second, the herbarium specimen sent to Schlechter in Berlin in all likelihood was destroyed in 1943. Therefore the holotype no longer exists and a lectotype must be designated from among the isotypes at AMES. Four sheets of Eaton's collection 921 are extant at AMES. One of these sheets has, in Oakes Ames handwriting, the follow "This no. of Eaton's Florida orchids is the type of S. Amesiana Schltr." Therefore I designate the following as the lectotype for Spiranthes amesiana Schlechter emend. P.M. Brown LECTOTYPE: Coconut Grove, Rocky pinewoods, Roots often in small crevices May 21, 1904, A.A. Eaton 924 (AMES 2530). ISOLECTOTYPES: AMES 82891; 2401, 66105

• Spiranthes floridana When Edgar Wherry published his description

of Spiranthes floridana (as Ibidium floridanum) in 1931


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little was known about the complexities of the Spiranthes lacera complex. Recent research has not only revalidated several species of Spiranthes but also resulted in the description one new species, S. eatonii P.M. Brown (1999). In a review of the treatment of Spiranthes for the soon-to-be-published Flora of North America, vol. 26, Bruce Sorrie recently pointed out to the author that Wherry's original description did not mention the degree of pubescence or lack thereof, one of the major distinguishing features between S. floridana and S. brevilabris. As a point of fact, Wherry's concern was to separate it from S. gracilis rather than from S. brevilabris. Subsequently Correll treated all the taxa of this group as varieties of S. gracilis. In both the Wild Orchids of Florida and Flora of North America Spiranthes floridana will be treated as valid species. The following emendation to the description is proposed: Spiranthes floridana (Wherry) Cory emend. P.M. Brown

Plants differing from Spiranthes brevilabris in

the lack of a dense pubescence on the rachis and within the inflorescence.

• THREE NEW COLOR FORMS Habenaria odontopetala forma heatonii P.M. Brown forma nov.


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TYPE: US: Florida, St. Lucie Co. Sept. 2000 Holotype: photograph (J. Heaton) N.A. Nat. Orchid. J. 7(1): 113; plate 9. 2001. Forma plantae alba, sine viridis, conspeciebus diversa. Differing from the typical Habenaria odontopetala in the lack of all chlorophyll; therefore the entire plant being white

This unusual true albino form of the common H. odontopetala was found in September 2000 by 14 year old Jake Heaton. Precedent for such forma include Epipactis helleborine forma monotropoides (Mousley) Scoggin (Brown, 1997) and Platanthera aquilonis forma alba (Light) P.M. Brown (Light, 1989; Brown, 2000). The plant that is illustrated was growing in a live oak hammock in St. Lucie County. Although it did not reach full flowering, it could be readily identified. Jake has done a great deal of orchid hunting in his area and found many new records for St. Lucie County including Oeceoclades maculata and Triphora gentianoides. Triphora trianthophora forma caerulea P.M. Brown forma nov. TYPE: United States: Florida, Suwannee County. 17 September 1960. Locally quite common; flowers blue; on wooded stream bank (about 300 yards below Ichetucknee Springs, sec. 12 T6S R15E,


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southeast corner of Suwannee County. Holotype: A. Will s.n., det. A. Will & D. Ward (FLAS). Forma floribus caerulea conspeciebus diversa Differing from typical Triphora trianthophora by the blue coloration of the flowers.

In researching herbarium specimens for the Florida Native Orchid Project several specimens were seen that indicated blue flowers. It was not until October 2000 that blue-flowering plants were seen by the author. They are a most distinct color form and worthy of recognition as such. The best collection with the greatest amount of data has been selected for the holotype. Sacoila lanceolata var. paludicola forma aurea P.M. Brown forma nov. Forma floribus lutea conspeciebus diversa differing from the typical form of the species by it yellow flowers TYPE: US: Collier County, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. March 20, 2001. growing with typical scarlet colored plants on old cypress logs. Holotype: photograph (P.M. Brown), N.A. Nat. Orchid. J. 7(1): 114, plate 10. 2001.


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This striking yellow colored form of the Fakahatchee beaked orchid was found within a large colony at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County, Florida. Sacoila lanceolata can be quite variable in color throughout its range but here in Florida color variation has not previously been seen in the variety paludicola.

TWO NATURALIZED SPECIES

RECENTLY DOCUMENTED FOR FLORIDA AND THE UNITED STATES

Research for the Florida Native Orchid Project,

and subsequently for The Wild Orchids of Florida, has uncovered many new county records for Florida and a few new species records. Both of these represent new genus records for both Florida and the United States. Curiously enough both species have been known from naturalized populations in the Caribbean for some years, so it is no surprise that they are present in Florida.

• Spathoglottis plicata Blume

Greg Allikas, of West Palm Beach, reported the occurrence of Spathiglottis plicata in Palm Beach County where plants have been known for more than 20 years in abandoned shellrock excavations. They have been noted in several sites and appear to be reproducing well and spreading locally. Plants


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occur with several another non-native species, Oeceoclades maculata, as well as the native Bletia purpurea and Eulophia alta.

• Phaius tankervilleae (Aiton) Blume

John Tobe of Tallahassee, noted the presence of several plants of Phaius tankervilleae in Hardee County on a bayhead tributary of the Peace River, some distance from any population centers. The plants were well established and reproducing in deep muck along the river. This is a very popular species in cultivation throughout much of Florida, although there has never been a substantiated report of naturalized plants, perhaps because of the moisture requirements. The broad, plicate leaves, tall scapes, and large showy flowers are unmistakable and should be sought in similar areas. Literature Cited: Ames, O. 1921. Rhodora 23: 82-83. Brown, P.M. 1997 The Wild Orchids of Northeastern United States. Cornell University Press, Ithaca ____________1999. NA Native Orchid Journal 5(1): 3-15. ____________2000. NA Native Orchid Journal 6(1): 43. Correll, D. 1940. Bot. Mus. Leaflet. of Havard Univ. 8:76. Light, M.S. & M. MacConaill. 1989. Lindleyana 4(3): 158-160. Schlechter, R. 1920. Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 37(2): 148. Wherry, E. 1931. Journ. Wash. Acad. 21:49


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Spathoglottis plicata


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6th ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE ORCHID CONFERENCE

September 7-9, 2001

Acton, Maine

Pre-conference workshop on Thursday evening Sept. 6, 6:30-9 pm

Spiranthes Ecology, Distribution & Identification

Charles J. Sheviak & Paul Martin Brown A workshop using both live and herbarium

material; microscopes will be provided and an extensive handout will be supplied: cost

$12.00

schedule Friday, Sept. 7 9am Registration - Acton Congregational Church Conference commences at 10 AM Speakers will include: Charles J. Sheviak Mark Nir Scott Stewart Gerardo Salazar

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Brian Keel a special presentation from Philip Keenan on the Life History of Triphora trianthophora and others to be announced Registration cost: $55, which includes lunch and dinner and all field trips Meals package for those not attending the conference: Lunch $7.50, Dinner $10.00 Field Trips on Saturday and Sunday, September 8&9 Saturday to western Maine and nearby New Hampshire proceed northward to Colebrook, NH Sunday to northern New Hampshire and northern Vermont Species to be seen include: Spiranthes cernua (3 different ecotypes), Spiranthes casei, Spiranthes ochroleuca, Spiranthes romanzoffiana, Spiranthes xborealis and several other Spiranthes hybrids; Goodyera repens, tesselata and pubescens (some may still be in flower); Epipactis helleborine in a variety of colors; and the possibility of late-flowering

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Platanthera lacera, psycodes, xandrewsii, aquilinis & huronensis. Please send your registration and indicate the various activities and meals carefully. Unlike other conferences, meals are included for registrants and available for spouses or companions.

SEND REGISTRATIONS TO NANOA, PO BOX

759, ACTON, MAINE 04001 Conference Only: $55 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday Pre-conference Spiranthes Workshop: $12 Additional meals lunch on Friday $7.50 Dinner on Friday $10.00

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The Acton Congregational Church is located just off Route 109 in Acton Center and visible from the road. It is adjacent to the Town Hall and Library just past the new Fire Station. From Boston take I-93 north to I-95 north to the Route 109 exit in Maine. It is labeled for Sanford and Wells. Take 109 north through Sanford and Springvale, past Mousam Lake and into Acton. Past the Acton fairgrounds; it is a small town with no commercial center - just a crossroad Driving time from Boston about 2.5 hours Alternate route (our preference) would be to take I-93 north from Boston to I-495 north to Route 125 exit for Haverhill, Mass/Plaistow, New Hampshire (be careful as there are several 125 exits) Continue north on 125 to Rochester, New Hampshire and then north on US 16 to US 202 and signs for Sanford. After crossing into Maine you will pass through Lebanon and then up a long hill. At the top of the hill watch for Route 11a on the left. Turn left and it will take you down to Springvale. Turn

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left again and proceed to Acton. Driving time from Boston about 2+ hours. The biggest difference is if you want services and shops along the way. The I-95 route does not have anything along the way whereas the 125 route, although a bit slower traffic-wise, has a lot to see and do, especially if you are looking for lunch! To get to Acton from the Portland, Maine area take I-95/Maine Turnpike south to the Route 109 exit for Sanford and proceed as above. Travel time from Portland is 1 hour. Suggested Accommodations- Nearest to Acton: Motels Mousam Valley Motel, Springvale, Maine 207-324-2165 Campground Apple Valley Campground 207-636-2285 In nearby Sanford, Maine, 9 miles south of Acton Oakwood Inn & Motel, Sanford, Maine 207-324-2160 Bar-H Motel, Sanford, Maine 207-324-4662 In South Sanford 15 miles from Acton Super 8 Motel 207-324-8823 If you wish to stay at the ocean Wells, Ogunquit and Kennebunk are all about an hour from Acton. Kennebunkport is 1.5 hours from Acton (traffic

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can be really heavy at times). There are literally hundreds of places to stay along the coast Recommended places to stay for Saturday evening in Colebrook, New Hampshire In downtown Colebrook: Monadnock B&B - Bed and Breakfast 603-237-8216 Rooms With a View - Bed and Breakfast 603-237-5106 Colebrook House Motel & Restaurant (603) 237-5521 Sportsmans Lodge and Cabins Diamond Pond Road, Colebrook (603) 237-5211 A bit remote and rustic but with great ambience and food Or for a real experience in old-time New Hampshire luxury accomodations The Balsam's in Dixville Notch 603-255-3000 Campground Diamond Lake State Park Campground There are many other campgrounds in the area.

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LOOKING FORWARD

JUNE 2001

Orchid Floras of North America

Reproductive Biology of the Pink Lady's-slipper

Range Notes on Corallorhiza bentleyi

Out of the Loop…?

…and more

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Phaius tankervilliae Nun orchid

March 2001 North American Native Orchid Journal

Documents

Transcript of March 2001 North American Native Orchid Journal