Northern Blue Flag Iris Northern Blue Flag Iris Northern Blue Flag Iris A Lone Northern Blue Flag Iris Blossom Caught My Eye Was walking the dog just now and caught a single flower catching some light as the sun set.  It stood out at the wetland border but, but still up on some dry ground.  Just a great flower, no matter how...

Virginia Creeper Holdfasts- Stuck on Life Virginia Creeper Holdfasts- Stuck on Life A Marvel of Plant Morphology, a Creeper Holdfast Does its Thing Sticky and Twisted Art Because of the burnt red color that Virginia Creeper leaves (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) turn in autumn, they caught my eye as a young boy.  I identified...

Zingiberaceae, an Ornamental Ginger Ginger Plantlets Can Arise from the Flower Ginger root is well known as a flavoring, and is even sugared and eaten whole candied.  Its also a staple, in a pickled form along side sushi, a must as it sits with wasabi in a little pile waiting to hit the palate with the unique smooth, flowery...

Jewel Orchid Jewel Orchid Jewel Orchid Jewel Orchid Its not the MOST common houseplant, that’s for sure.  The Jewel Orchid, is a true orchid that one might pass by in a plant store and mistake for just another potted vine.  I see it only once in a great while in big box stores.  But a local specialty grower will know...

Pink Lady Slipper Orchids Pink Lady Slipper Orchids Pink Lady Slipper Orchid Took these shots 2 Springs ago on a hike up a dune ledge in Moreau, NY, where a large sandy swath of inland barrens abuts a rich mixed forest of beech, white pine, hemlock and blueberry.  At this edge was good population of the pink lady slipper orchids,...

Milkweed Pods in Orchid Pose Common milkweed pods, open to the wind, struck a pose that reminded me of a tropical orchid.  Love this simple shot with simple browns and tans.  Seeds still stuck in one pod, wait for the next stiff wind to send them adrift.  This Asclepidaceae member may be one of the most familiar plants to...

Golden Rod Gall Golden Rod Gall Fly Larva Gall Fly Larva Golden Rod Dried Witch's Broom Golden Rod Flowers in The Fall Naturalists are a strange breed, and I’ve often wondered what actually makes someone a naturalist, vs. say a good hunter.  I guess most hunters are also naturalists.  Some of the hunters up here,...

Sobralia labiata Orchids present themselves as a plant family in a big way in the jungle of Central America.   There are terrestrial forms, and many epiphytic forms- rooted and growing on other plants, trees.  The Orchids comprimise a monocot faimly of plants that are about as specialiste as you can get flower wise.  Some...

The Endemic Osa Heliconia This gorgeous, yet simple Heliconia, endemic to the area of the Osa Peninsula and parts of Panama, is not your most spectacular Helicona sp., flowers that are grown for flower shops all over the world.  But in its simplicity, it is breathtaking, and it seems to have purposefully defied the verbosity...

Indian Pipe Indian Pipes, Monotropa uniflora (species name means- single flowered), are a vascular plant, which means they are akin to weeds, shrubs, herbs, trees and such- and not akin to things like ferns, mosses, and their allies.  It survives as a saprophytic plant- one that lives off of the products that another plant that...