Photo : Pyramidal Orchid.2
Wild Orchid Hunt... day 3
Pyramidal Orchid
When I first lived in this part of the sud Touraine I was struck by the variety and sheer numbers of wild flowers on roadside verges. They were, by and large, unidentified by name... like philately (a previous specialist hobby of mine) I eventually realised that the more I knew the more there was to learn... and with that increased knowledge, the more there was to learn... and so on. To me, flora is similar... an interesting subject but too vast to begin to understand. Better, I always thought, to leave it to the dedicated or specialists!
A change came when I decided to spend more time cycling (through a personal choice - and with no real need to - I haven't driven our 70s VW Combi for three years... although it will be on the road again next month), which allowed me to stop anywhere at the roadside and look more closely at flowers and grasses which normally were only glanced at for a split-second before they felt the draft of our speeding minibus whizzing past.
This month I started to look more closely at the strange plants emerging from the rough scrubby undergrowth a meter or so back from the edges of the highway typical of this chalky area. My first two identified this week were the Early Purple Orchid and the Monkey Orchid. I initially took a few photographs thinking they would be too difficult to identify and be worth saving for possible magazine article use. But they were two of the easier ones to tick off in the field guide... from which I discovered certain characteristics to look for... and which led me to return to be more careful with my photography.
With 25,000 identified species of orchids world-wide the subject must certainly be as complex as philately... and believe me, the latter's complexity can drive you to insanity and insolvency. However, with around thirty five different species in a twenty kilometre radius of here, according to a field-guide in the local library, the challenge is on to find maybe a dozen of them this year whilst learning about them and their habitat... which leads to the discovery of other plants and insects... and more subjects for the camera... and more to write about on my travels.
I saw three new orchids today... one requiring a revisit as I didn't think it - an Early Spider Orchid - was related to the family, and another requiring a re-shoot as I later found that I had, by mistake, dialled "minus 1-stop" exposure compensation on the Nikon D200 with my thumb as I stumbled down a grassy bank. The one I illustrate above is the Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis for which the most detailed information is to be found on Stephen Mifsud's "Malta Wild Plants" website. Do take a look... there are many other types of plants photographed and written about in great detail. If only a little of the information rubs off and becomes inspiration to look and learn for yourself then something positive has happened. When so many plants are being lost forever through loss of habitat due in part to population growth the more we, as individuals, can help in their preservation.
11:58:05 PM 
|
|
