Native North American Orchids
Florida is a hotbed of floral abundance with about 100 species growing in the state.
Altogether, there are over 200 native species across North America, covering every corner of the country including Alaska. If you add Hawaii, the number is even higher.
There were once even more species, but some are now extinct in the wild and can only be found in private collections.
The rat tail orchid (Bulbophyllum pachyrachis) needed a better publicist because “rat tail” doesn’t do it justice.
It does produce a long, dangling pseudobulb that resembles the tail of a rat, but the purple, red, green, and brown flowers are striking. Sadly, it’s no longer found in its south Florida home.
Here are some common species you may come across:
Butterfly
The Florida butterfly orchid (Encyclia tampensis) is widespread across the state and among the most common native species.
It’s an epiphyte that generally grows on trees along waterways.
The narrow, grass-like leaves aren’t particularly distinctive but each stalk can produce up to 45 flowers, and the plants tend to cluster together with an abundance of flowers.
Highly fragrant blossoms appear in shades of yellow, cooper, pink, bronze, and green, with white labellum.
The intensely fragrant rufous butterfly (E. rufa) also grows in Florida but it’s endangered and rare to encounter.
Coralroot
With seven species of Corallorhiza in North America, your chances of spotting this terrestrial orchid are pretty good if you live near a temperate forest.
They grow in both coniferous and deciduous forests and rely on the ectomycorrhizal fungi in the soil to survive, since most species lack the ability to photosynthesize.
Interestingly, many plants bloom once in their first year and then vanish underground for several years before re-emerging.
If you come across one in the wild, don’t be surprised if it isn’t there the following season, though you can usually find others nearby.
They produce tall, straight stalks lined with small flowers that are easy to overlook unless you examine them closely.
The blossoms can be yellow, brown, green, orange, red, or even multicolored.
Corduroy
There are dozens of corduroy orchids (Eulophia spp.) across the glove, with just a few native to North America. The wild coco (E. alta) and giant (E. ecristata) species grow across the South.
One Asian species, Chinese crowned (E. graminea) has escaped cultivation and naturalized in the same area.
Wild coco is one of the largest orchids native to the South, producing racemes that can hold up to 50 flowers each.
Blooming for as long as six months beginning in June, it displays white, green, brown, crimson, and purple blossoms, and can reach more than three feet in height when flowering.
Giant corduroy orchids are about the same size, but the flowers are a bit less showy and are primarily yellow and crimson. They are endangered in much of their range.
Both species are terrestrial, typically found growing in wet, boggy soils.
Fairy Slippers
Fairy slipper orchids (Calypso bulbosa) are found in eastern Canada and the northeast US, across to western Canada and the Pacific border.
They are rare in some areas, such as Vermont and Michigan, but more abundant in places like Maine, Washington, and Oregon.
There are two varieties. Western fairy slipper (C. bulbosa var. occidentalis) inhabits the western part of the range and C. bulbosa var. americana, which appears throughout the rest of the range except in California, Oregon, and Idaho.
Each plant bears a single two-inch basal leaf and a slender stalk topped with one, occasionally two, flowers.
Blossoms are pink to magenta, with a pouch-like labellum that gives the plant its common name.
Kristine Lofgren
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