Wild Orchids 5/21/07

I spent some time over the weekend hiking to some very prime locations of for my wild orchid hunt! I took my dog, JJ who loves to get in the way of every picture I try to take on a long hike through the forest to a few glades that are marshy environments in a valley where two small creeks link up. It has rained a bit lately, so the ground was pretty soggy. We actually saw stags fighting in the forest on the other side of the creek. They make a lot of noise and it seemed very fierce! While I was in the forest, I started to find girolles...chantrelle mushrooms and before I knew it, I was using the plactic bag had the camera in to collect almost a half kilo! I have never found so many in the spring before.
So we got to the little marshy valley clearing and after walking a bit in the high grass, I started to see spike of flowers. As I got closer, I tried to identify the plants but had trouble because of the spotted leaves. As I examined the form of the blossom, I came tto the conclusion that it was a variety or hybrid of dactylorhiza
cruenta, or the blood orchid. These flowers were white with a purplish dot pattern barely discernable on the petals but the form is the same. Normally this orchid with the dappled leaves is purplish red. There were about 15 plants in the location, some whiter than others. I took my pictures and then we moved on and found ourselves in a broad marshy plain covered with tall grass and there were taller thinner but more dense spikes rising
from the grass. I had found a group of orchis incarnata or dactylorhiza incarnata, subspecies ochroleuca. A very handsome plant with sturdy strap like leaves with no dappling. There were around 25 through the grass and in the marshier areas, wild yellow flags. This was a hard picture as JJ wanted to get my atttention and me lying in the grass looked like I wanted to play!
We headed back into the forest and I walked up to the other ridge and found a few very nice 2 leaf orchids or
plantathera bifolia. Much more delicate white flowers that even seem to be a bit green. They grow in clearings in the forest or the sides of trails in sandier dryer environments that the dactylorhizae. There were plants sparsely spred out over a few square meters. At his point the sky which ahd been darkening for a little while began to look threatening and I was using the camera bag for the mushrooms I found so I
began to head back. Luckily I got home before the rain started. Today, I bought a new bike...a nice VTT that I took on a 15 mile test ride! While on the ride, I rode past the village of Raffaillac and the big hill there. I stopped because there were a number of plants growing out of the hillside including bee, hanging man, frog and pyramid orchids! Tomorrow, I plan to bike back with the camera and document those.