Featured – David McAdoo - North American Orchid Conservation Center

Pink Lady’s Slipper – Cypripedium acaule

This is a wildflower that many people recognize but are surprised to learn it is an orchid. If you live in the northeast United States, it is easy to find this orchid in highly acidic soil habitats often forming large colonies. The plant will likely die if someone tries to transplant it because inveribly the roots are damaged and the companion fungus dies. Enjoy them where they grow. This portrait was taken in the mountains of North Carolina.

Photo © DRMcAdoo

Downy Rattlesnake Plantain – Goodyera pubescens

Another northeastern species that is just as easy to find in the winter as the summer. It has a rosette of evergreen leaves with distinctly lined white or greenish white veins. This very common plant flowers in late summer and often can be found in the same habitat as the pink lady’s-slipper. This is another plant photographed in North Carolina mountains.

Photo © DRMcAdoo

Queen’s Lady’s Slipper – Cypripedium reginae

Generally found in wet areas, this plant deserves the title ‘Queen’. The flowers are large compared to other Cypripediums and to see a stand of them in the wild is breath-taking. This plant was photographed on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada – an exceptional location to search for orchids.

Photo © DRMcAdoo

Ghost Orchid – Dendrophylax lindenii

Books have been written (The Orchid Thief) and movies made (Adaptation) about this elusive orchid that haunts the swamps of south Florida and the Caribbean. It is an extremely rare epiphyte – fewer than 2,000 plants remain in the wild. This leafless orchid depends on its tangled network of green roots for photosynthesis.

Photo © DRMcAdoo

Dragon’s Mouth Orchid – Arethusa bulbosa

To get an opportunity to see a plant this beautiful in the middle of a sphagnum bog is the thrill of being an orchid enthusiast. The species is the only plant of the genus and is endemic to North America. The common name fits it well. It was photographed in the Carney Fen - reported to have the largest and most diverse population of orchids in the state of Michigan.

Photo © DRMcAdoo

Crested Coral Root – Hexalectris spicata

There are several species of this genus which grow in the United States, but this is the only one in the east. The photo was taken mid-June in the south central mountains of Virginia. We were suprised when we found it there because it was unexpected. The plant looks like a bunch of dead sticks until you get down on your knees to see these beautiful flowers up close.

Photo © DRMcAdoo

White Fringed Orchid – Platanthera blephariglottis

A member of one of the largest orchid genera in North America, this plant is primarily a coastal species that grows from Texas to New Jersey. It forms natural hybrids with several other Platanthera species and was photographed in the Nature Conservancy’s Green Swamp Nature Preserve in North Carolina in early August.

Photo © DRMcAdoo

Crested Yellow Orchid – Platanthera cristata

This is another Platanthera species primarily from the southeastern coast. Typical habitat for it is pine grassland savannahs and it often blooms with several other Platanthera species. It flowers in the heat of the summer - you’ll have to brave ticks and chiggers to see it.

Photo © DRMcAdoo

Purple Fringeless Orchid – Platanthera peramoena

A friend and I went looking to rediscover this plant in North Carolina because it had not been seen in years. After checking historical sites, we found it along the Blue Ridge Parkway in plain sight of the road! It blooms about the same time as a native phlox with flowers of identical color so thousands of people were driving by without realizing what they were seeing. This flower makes me think of a choir director with his robe on singing away.

Western Prairie Fringed Orchid – Platanthera praeclara

This large fragrant orchid is very rare and found in remnants of the tallgrass prairie in the midwest. It is listed as a threatened species with its rarity linked to the disapearance of historical prairie habitat. It is a large plant with individual flowers reaching up to two inches across. It is pollinated at night by large sphinx moths. This plant was photographed in southern Manitoba, Canada at one of the largest remaining populations.

Fairy Slipper – Calypso bulbosa var. americana

There are two varieties of this species, and this one has the yellow tuft of hairs on its lip. The plant is one of our species which grow circumpolar from North America, into Europe, and Asia (China, Japan, Russia). This photo was taken on Flowerpot Island off the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. As you can see, it is a small, beautiful flower, and I think that the common name describes it well.

DAVID MCADOO, PHOTOGRAPHER

David McAdoo has been hunting orchids to photograph for some 40 years. He is a retired businessman with no botanical training (West Point didn’t offer anything like that). He grew up in Pennsylvania and spent summers roaming the mountains where he grew to love wildflowers.
His first job out of the Army took him to Kentucky where he teamed with a park naturalist to see if they could document all the orchids in the state. Together they published "An annotated catalogue and distribution account of the Kentucky Orchidaceae in 1978. Since then he has had photos published in many books, journals, and magazines including covers.
David’s interest in our native orchids led him to form the Native Orchid Conference, Inc. with a friend in 2002. The organization operates two web sites, publishes a quarterly journal, and each year sponsors a four-day conference in different areas of the United States and Canada. The organization is proud to partner with the North American Orchid Conservation Center.
David gives numerous talks and leads field trips to encourage others to appreciate and conserve our wonderful wild places. He considers himself a portrait photographer of the orchids and hopes that the results give people an opportunity to see and enjoy the beauty of these wonderful, rare, wild plants.

Featured – David McAdoo

Pink Lady’s Slipper – Cypripedium acaule

Downy Rattlesnake Plantain – Goodyera pubescens

Queen’s Lady’s Slipper – Cypripedium reginae

Ghost Orchid – Dendrophylax lindenii

Dragon’s Mouth Orchid – Arethusa bulbosa

Crested Coral Root – Hexalectris spicata

White Fringed Orchid – Platanthera blephariglottis

Crested Yellow Orchid – Platanthera cristata

Purple Fringeless Orchid – Platanthera peramoena

Western Prairie Fringed Orchid – Platanthera praeclara

Fairy Slipper – Calypso bulbosa var. americana

DAVID MCADOO, PHOTOGRAPHER

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