It was a rainy, rainy, foggy day, which made the open spaces mystical. The botanical offerings were outstanding, as you will see. If we had to be wet, at least it was great to find such wonderful things.
I find yellow lady slipper orchid regularly Cypripedium calceolus, but I liked how this group looks hiding in the fluffy horsetail.
Another big surprise was the wood lily Lilium philadelphicum. We have seen lots of it in North Dakota but there it was short- about one foot high. I've never seen it in Michigan before, but it was growing in lots of places, and tall- two to three feet. It's the only wild, spotted lily that faces upward. And then... I thought I had gone straight to Nirvana!
I have NEVER seen this orchid before. It's the largest of the northern orchids, showy lady's slipper, Cypripedium reginae. And we saw them everywhere! They were growing in all the special, rich boggy places you would expect, but even in the roadside ditches like weeds! We could hardly believe how many we saw. It's about two feet tall, and the leaves and stems are hairy. Want to see it closer? OK.
There is so much to show you from this day that I think I will break it up and come back tomorrow, rather than post so many pictures that you skip them.
The trail was well-cleared and marked, so the only real problem was that we were SOAKING wet.
