>"Fakahatchee Strand contains more orchids... than any other spot in North >America... >Thick tree canopies and year-round water in the slough help create tropical >conditions where orchids... thrive."
Hello to all, Whoever wrote this has not been there in some time. I was just there in early March and after an entire day's searching only located two terrestrial species and one sad-looking Encyclia tampensis. If you drive 10 minutes west along the Tamiami Trail, there is massive construction going on with deep drainage canals that are lowering the water table. I wondered why things were so dry in the Strand, particularly following a rainy February. I have been assured that there are a few remote areas in the Fakahatchee that still have some orchids, but that would have to be a long walk through a lot of debris that's still scattered around from the recent hurricanes. As the habitat has opened up, the nasty thorny vine, smilac, is popping up in lots of places, ready to take a chunk out of explorers. Also, poison ivy is now almost everywhere. Fortunately, I'm not allergic to it. I cannot dispute the claim of "more orchids....than any other spot in North America" if we're only talking about epiphytes. I know of huge areas in California where there are still acres and acres of flowering orchids and I would suppose that plenty of terrestrials exist in large colonies across Canada. I actually have more orchids springing up in my lawn than I saw in the wild on my four-day trip to South Florida. Don't get excited, they're only Spiranthes. Best regards, Jim _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
