Need an excuse to hit the woods this winter? How about a green scavenger hunt.
If you’re hiking in the mid-to-low elevations of the Smokies this winter keep your eyes peeled for a splash of green. This may be the best time of the year to find two unique native orchids of the Southeast and Southern Appalachians. The large green, single leaves of Tipularia discolor, cranefly orchid, or Aplectrum hyemale, Adam-and-Eve or puttyroot orchid stand out against the gray-brown forest floor making them easy to see. Each species sometimes forms small colonies creating a patch of green leaves.
Puttyroot leafs in late summer and the leaf persists until the plant blooms the following spring. The common name is derived from the thick, sticky fluid that can be obtained from crushing the bulbs. The Adam-and-Eve name is in reference to the fact that the bulb, which produced last year’s growth, and the bulb for the current year’s growth are found together. The single leaf may be as large as 6 inches long and 3 inches wide. The leaf is elliptic in shape, broadest at the middle and tapering to a point at the end. It is dusky-green and heavily veined with silver veins. The botanical term used to describe the leaf is plicate, meaning “folded, as in a fan.”
The cranefly orchid, so-named because the flowers resemble a crane fly, doesn’t produce its leaf until late fall and it persists until the orchid blooms in summer. The cranefly leaf is green above, often blotched with purple and is purple on the underside. The leaf is more round (ovate) than the puttyroot. It may reach a length of 4 inches or so and be nearly 3 inches wide.
Should you find one, or more, of these verdant signposts you should mark the location. The flowers, though lovely, are small and blend in well with the forest floor and if you don’t have a good map you may not be able to find them once the leaves are gone.
The cranefly is the showier of the two. It blooms from July to September. The stalk may be up to a foot tall with dozens of small blooms. The flowers can range in color from greenish-brown, to lemon, to purple all on the same stalk.
The puttyroot blooms earlier, from May to June. The stalk may reach 8 inches or slightly taller with six to 10 individual flowers. Puttyroot flowers are generally greenish at the base and purple towards the tip.
This orchid quest is a good excuse to get out and enjoy your favorite trails this winter.