06.19.2022 As with the PT’s so with the GP’s

There are a lot of Grass Pinks right now and it’s pretty hard to say “Well, I’ve already shot a bunch” when there are so many and different enough to keep making images. Kind of like the Painted Trilliums or bullfrogs.

This morning I returned to MacLeod Field and there were dozens of these orchids by the not very well-worn path along the edge of the field. You might be able to tell  that it rained a little earlier and as a result I got soaked  up to my hips despite the Muckboots which just go to below my knees. I imagine a few folks looked at me a bit askance when I ran the errands afterwards.

Grass Pink-Calopogon tuberosus aka Tuberous Grass Pink. This orchid is found throughout the eastern U.S. and much of the central as well. This plant has developed a unique pollination strategy tricking the visiting bee into thinking the hairs located on the upper lip are pollen holding stamens.  This video demonstrates how that works.  Sometimes you might come across one of these flowers with the upper lip hanging down onto the curved sexual organ where pollination happens after a bee visit. That’s likely what happened with the bloom at the lower right.