2024-10-165 Dragon's-mouth orchid (Arethusa bolbosa)

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2024-10-165 Dragon's-mouth orchid (Arethusa bolbosa)
2024-10-165 Dragon's-mouth orchid (Arethusa bolbosa)

I was on a walk in a nature reserve not far from where we live, and came across fields of these, along with several other fascinating flowers. At first, I thought is was a Calypso Orchid, but learned on getting home what it actually was.

From Wikipedia. This is the only species in the orchid genus Arethusa. The genus is named after a naiad of Greek mythology. This monotypic genus is abbreviated Aret in trade journals.

This terrestrial and rare orchid occurs in Eastern North America from Manitoba east to Newfoundland and St. Pierre & Miquelon south to Virginia, with isolated populations in northern Saskatchewan and in the Carolinas. It occurs in bogs, swamps and other wet lowlands. It grows to a height of 15 cm. It forms a large, single, pink terminal flower, with a showy lip and white and yellow fringed crests.

Larry was a bit busy so I wanted to take advantage of a dry period to explore Duncan’s Cove Nature Reserve. We had tried a few months ago, but the trail had gotten so boggy and muddy, we gave up, and hadn’t been back since. It was supposed to be a 7 km out and back, but my AllTrails GPS unit developed a flaw, the map wouldn’t connect, and so I couldn’t see if I was on the correct trail or not. All went well until I wanted to return, having walked along the coast and explored both WWII military installations. A trail that appeared to return to the trailhead petered out, and I wasn’t able to get my GPS’s guidance on where to go. I switched to my phones Apple Maps to find a nearby roadway to get out of the park, where I called Larry to pick me up in his car and get me back to mine. Sometimes, getting lost is as much fun as executing as planned, and this was an example. I got to see some interesting sea-side homes and, amazingly, there was a food truck at our rendezvous spot, and I enjoyed a delicious arancini!

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Taken on: June 13, 2024
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Dragon's-mouth orchid Dragon's-mouth orchid Everybody's photos tagged with Arethusa bolbosa Arethusa bolbosa
Sets appears in:   • Explorations of Duncans Cove Nature Reserve    • 2024-365   
Groups appears in:   • 365 - Make 1 shot per day, for 1 year.    • 365 Gay    more » • 365 Canada    • 2024 : one photo each day    « less
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX70 HS, f/4.0, 1/500 sec, 7.4mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX70 HS
Lens: 3.8-247.0 mm
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length: 7.4mm
ISO: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
Exposure Program: Program AE
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
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