Episode 46: Herbal Hauntings and Cowboy Collections -Ghost Orchid

Hello, and welcome back to the first episode of Rooted in the new year! I am so excited to be back, and really looking forward to sharing another amazing year of cursed plant fact and fiction with you all! After a much needed break to enjoy time with my family (and look into lots of new plants) I am thrilled to be here with you all! 

To apologize for my accidental ghosting, (and to ease back into things over here) I’m coming at you with one of my favorite plants of the florida everglades- and our first foray into orchids- the ghost orchid! 

The ghost orchid, or Dendrophylax lindenii is a member of the orchidacea, or orchid family. Despite being the second largest family of flowers behind asteraceae, orchids are all very easily identifiable because of their bilateral symmetry,  distinctly modified petals (normally evolved to aid in attracting specific insects or bred to be more ornamentally attractive), and fused stamens and carpels, and some of the tiniest seeds around. They are all classified as perennial herbs that never develop woody stems or support.

The ghost orchid is certainly no exception to this, but notably does NOT have any leaves- crazy, I know. Instead of leaves, these little cuties can actually photosynthesize from their ROOTS. Despite spending like 100% of my free time researching plants, somehow they never cease to amaze me! 

But fancy pants roots aren't the only special thing about these bright white beauties. They are considered endangered and are SUPER rare, being found only in specific regions of the caribbean, cuba, and the everglades. These guys bloom June- August, and have blooms that are about 4 cm wide and 9 cm long. 

The blooms themselves look kind of like leaping frogs or praying manti, and are said to have a delightful fresh apple scent. They tend to grow up tree trunks, blooming around eye level, just to make sure we don’t miss them. They need a humid environment to thrive due to their symbiotic relationship with fungus in the thelephoraceae or leathery earth fan family, which need very specific conditions to thrive.

 Without the help of this fungus, the ghost orchid cannot produce some of the key nutrients it needs to thrive, so it withers and dies. However, unlike the OTHER ghost orchid, these guys give their fungal friends some sugar in exchange - so really they are just kind of hosting little dinner parties up there with the fungus cooking the entree and the ghost orchid bringing dessert- I can’t say I blame the ghost orchid for refusing to grow without a friend like that. 

These frog-like figures are pollinated by a variety of super fun moths like the fig sphinx moth, the giant sphinx moth, and about a dozen or so hawk moth species. It produces pods containings tons of teeny tiny seeds, though most will never sprout, much less bloom. 

Taken out of their natural habitat, most ghost orchid specimens die within the year, which is why it is illegal to collect or harvest them. While some highly skilled orchidfolks have managed to stablize cuttings and cultivate them- keeping them alive in greenhouses under extremely specific and delicate conditions, most of us are best just admiring these guys from afar, or taking a tour to carefully study them in the wild under the guide of those familiar with the area. 

However, if you do want to live out your wild fantasies of picking them, I would suggest you replay red dead redemption 2 doing the only thing I have EVER done in the game- running around the world admiring all of the super detailed plants, and picking a ghost orchid any time you stumble upon them…and to whoever spent what had to be THOUSANDS of hours developing the flowers and then making them pickable- I hope you know that I see you and I appreciate you. 

Now that the love fest is v=over- do you remember earlier when I told you there was ANOTHER ghost orchid? Well, I figured we should probably go ahead and dig in to that one too, since even the writers on Wednesday had trouble keeping them straight! Who knew this episode was going to have so many pop culture references?! 

The other orchid in question is the Epipogium aphyllum, which is in fact another orchid, but is actually native to various areas of europe, asia, and pretty much anywhere else with cold winters and Inocybe family fungus- the mushrooms with skinny stalks that look like they are wearing big pointy hats. 

Unlike the so called american ghost orchid (though they were first officially recorded in the caribbean) this ghost orchid isn’t giving anything back to the host fungus. Instead, just like the ghost pipe, this plant is parasitic, and takes all the nutrients it needs from the mycrorizal network instead of producing chlorophyll and making it’s own food. 

These flowers are tricky to locate, and they rarely pop up in the same spot twice- making them hard to pin down, and even rarer to stumble upon. They also only pop up abve ground when they are in bloom in early spring, making them even more elusive. 

Their blooms grow on long, thin whitish/pinkins stalks, and sort of look like messed up straw flowers more than an orchid you would typically think of! The flowers are a bright white, and each stalk typically has 3-4 flowers! They stick up about ____ cm above the ground- typically coming from leaf litter or under conifers that form symbiotic relationships with the mycorrhizal host these guys choose to steal their food from! 

Just like the other ghost orchid- these guys are super rare due to the conditions they need, and should never be removed or disturbed in their natural habitat. Unlike the other r=orchid however, these guys have NOT responded well to attempts to grow them in a lab, making it all the more important for us to preserve and protect their natural environments. 

While it’s super unlikely that you’d ever just stumble upon either of these in the wild, if you do, I hope you take a moment to carefully say hello, and next time you’re on a hike, try to remember that endangered plants pop up everywhere, and be mindful of only foraging, picking, or traipsing around plants that you know are okay to take, and do so mindfully and in moderation! 

That’s all I’ve got this time, but I’ll be back next week with an episode I think you’re REALLY going to dig- we’re going back to our roots with witchcraft, hallucinogens, and poison!