Featured – Orchids of the Great Lakes - North American Orchid Conservation Center

Case’s Ladies’ Tresses Spiranthes casei

This northern orchid has cream-colored flowers that spiral up a strong spike. The central portion of the flower is a deeper creamy yellow with sepals that project forward. It likes dry to moderately moist sandy soil.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper Cypripedium arietinum

The Ram's Head is a species of special concern here in Michigan. Our smallest and most inconspicuous lady's slipper, it often grows in patches in cool neutral soil.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper Cypripedium arietinum

We found this white form of the Ram's Head, designated as albiflorum, in sandy soils along the southern shore of Lake Superior.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Large Whorled Pogonia Isotria verticillata

The Large Whorled Pogonia is considered threatened in Michigan so it was a real thrill to locate these after a long hunt. This orchid has a whorl of five or six leaves with one or two distinctive flowers above the leaves and was growing on the edge of a deciduous woods in a wet bog. The related Small Whorled Pogonia (Isotria medeoloides), is considered extirpated in Michigan.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain Goodyera tesselata

The least common of the four species of Goodyera found in Michigan, the Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain grows in dry upland coniferous woods. We spotted this orchid among a patch of Round Leaved Orchids (Platanthera orbiculata) on the southern shore of Lake Superior.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Putty Root Aplectrum hyemale

This spring-flowering orchid can be found in moist deciduous forests of beech and sugar maple, although the distinctive winter leaf usually withers by the time the flower spike emerges. The flowers generally have greenish sepals and petals tipped with purple (left). A second variety, designated as pallidum (right), has pale flowers and is found in Michigan and other parts of its range.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Western Spotted Coral Root Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis

Spotted Coral Root is the most often encountered species of coral root in our area. This spring flowering variety has an expanded middle lobe on the lip, which distinguishes it from the variety maculata, which has a narrow lip and flowers several weeks later. We found this yellow form in a mixed forest along the northern shoreline of Lake Michigan.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Spotted Coral Root Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata

This form of Spotted Coral Root flowers later in the season. Although the flower lip is usually spotted in dark purple or red, we found this yellow-stemmed form with a completely white lip in the southern part of Michigan. Note the middle lobe is not expanded and the sides are parallel.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Faville’s Lady’s Slipper Cypripedium xandrewsii

This rare, beautiful lady’s slipper with its long spiraled sepals and cream-colored lip, is a natural hybrid between Cypripedium candidum and C. parviflorum var. pubescens. The USDA has recognized this hybrid as Cypripedium xandrewsii var. favillianum.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Auricled Twayblade Neottia auriculata

This northern orchid is a species of special concern here in Michigan and grows in cold, sandy or humus-rich soil in mossy areas along streams. A bit of sand still covers this one!

Photo © Dale Fitch

Shining Ladies’ Tresses Spiranthes lucida

This is our earliest ladies' tresses to bloom and the only one with leaves that remain green after flowering occurs. Noted for its bright yellow lip, its short stature makes it difficult to see among other vegetation growing in moist sand and stone along streams.

Photo © Dale Fitch

Cranefly Orchid Tipularia discolor

The Cranefly is considered endangered here in Michigan and can be located in early spring by looking for its distinctive leaf which disappears long before it flowers in the summer. Blooms are wispy on stems up to 24 inches high, but very difficult to see as the flowers look like a small cloud of craneflies.

Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid Platanthera leucophaea

This federally threatened orchid stands anywhere from 8 to 40 inches tall and generally favors the rich, moist soils of the open prairie. But it can also grow in lakeshore locations, such as this one that we found along the shoreline of Lake Huron.

Rose Pogonia Pogonia ophioglossoides

The Rose Pogonia grows in standing water or mossy knolls, often within marsh borders or sandy depressions along shoreline dunes. It frequently shares this boggy habitat with two other pink orchids, the Dragon's Mouth (Arethusa bulbosa) and Grass Pink (Calopogon tuberosus).

Little Ladies’ Tresses Spiranthes tuberosa

Although the short flower stalk makes this a difficult orchid to find, the pure white crystalline flowers spiraling up the stalk make it worth the hunt. This was our last Michigan native orchid to locate and a favorite of ours.

DALE FITCH, RETIRED PHYSICAL THERAPIST

Photo ©Al Menk

The Great Lakes region is a melting pot for orchids because of its geographic position, lake-influenced climate, soil types, and glacial history. Bogs and lakeshores created by glaciation provide a diversity of habitats. Many of the over 50 species of orchids that grow here also appear in the mountains to the west, New England, and the cool Appalachian uplands--remnants of a flora which once spread across North America.

This month we explore the orchids of the Great Lakes region with Dale Fitch, a retired physical therapist. Dale began photographing wildflowers in Michigan and throughout the United States and quickly developed a passion for those “wildflower aristocrats”¹, the orchid family! This inspired a 12-year quest for Dale and his wife, Ruth -- locate and photograph all of Michigan's native orchids. Here are just a few of the treasures they found. When not searching for orchids, they can be found birding, photographing lighthouses of the Great Lakes, and enjoying the outdoors, particularly in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

To learn more about orchids in the Great Lakes region, and which ones might be growing in your area, visit the Go Orchids website or check out these classic works on orchids found in the area:

¹Orchids of Michigan (1939) by M.T. Bingham

Orchids of the Western Great Lakes Region (1964) by F.W. Case Jr.

Featured – Orchids of the Great Lakes

Case’s Ladies’ Tresses Spiranthes casei

Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper Cypripedium arietinum

Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper Cypripedium arietinum

Large Whorled Pogonia Isotria verticillata

Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain Goodyera tesselata

Putty Root Aplectrum hyemale

Western Spotted Coral Root Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis

Spotted Coral Root Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata

Faville’s Lady’s Slipper Cypripedium xandrewsii

Auricled Twayblade Neottia auriculata

Shining Ladies’ Tresses Spiranthes lucida

Cranefly Orchid Tipularia discolor

Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid Platanthera leucophaea

Rose Pogonia Pogonia ophioglossoides

Little Ladies’ Tresses Spiranthes tuberosa

DALE FITCH, RETIRED PHYSICAL THERAPIST

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