Roadside Attraction

Though most people think of orchids as epiphytes draped over tree limbs and producing resplendent blossoms, leafless beaked orchids (Sacoila lanceolata) are orchids too: terrestrial orchids that grow on the ground like most common plants. You can see fields of them if you get there before the mowers.

Standing tall, sometimes to three feet, they line road shoulders and median strips along highways as well as overgrown fields and pine hammocks in early spring. Though these orchids occasionally are white to pale pink, flowers colored bright coral to red brick really stand out among the grasses. Therein lies the problem. They grow like weeds, but because of aggressive mowing, they are treated as weeds even though they, like all native orchids, are listed as a threatened species by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Some jurisdictions have banned mowing of terrestrial orchids and other native wild flowers. An offshoot of the Naples Orchid Society, the Native Orchid Restoration Project is working to do the same for Southwest Florida-the wild orchid capital of the US. We have more than 40 species of native orchids-68 have been identified for all of Florida-though some have not been seen for many years. Most are tropical, their seeds brought from the Caribbean by wind or birds.

Beaked orchids occur throughout Florida and down into all the lands in and surrounding the Caribbean. They are hardy if capricious beauties, and live to captivate the attention and adoration of insect pollinators and humans alike. All orchids seem to cast a magical spell; but if you happen on a green field punctuated by brilliant coral, you approach sublimity. Pull your car over, get out and look, caress and appreciate nature's perfect gift.