The
"Sky Island" mountains of Arizona are home to a rare orchid that grows nowhere else on Earth:
the Canelo Hills Ladies' Tresses, Spiranthes delitescens. Today the orchid survives in only two of its original five locations. Like Goldilocks, the orchid needs just the right conditions to grow and thrive: the right soil and moisture, the right pollinators and the right mycorrhizal fungi (i.e. the specific fungi that form relationships with the with plant roots, extending the plant's ability to derive nourishment from the soil).
As you may have read about in our newsletters, NAOCC has been working with colleagues at the Desert Botanical Garden to study and race to conserve this species.
Spiranthes delitescens is now being propagated for reintroduction to their specialized cienega wetland habitats.
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