An Unexpected Discovery — Christopher Tracey

This past weekend, I spent some time volunteering on an ecological restoration project just south of Pittsburgh, PA. The goal of this project is to create habitat for forest birds through the removal of invasive shrubs such as Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) and to replace them with native shrubs. During the work, I happened to glance down and a unique leaf happened to catch my eye--the leaf of the Cranefly Orchid (Tipularia discolor)!

This particular site is fairly degraded and it was quite the surprise to find one growing here. I searched around some more and only found this one plant. There was a second leaf next to this one that had been ripped off--perhaps from trampling by one of the volunteers. This species is considered a watchlist species in Pennsylvania and one that we currently track through the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program.

The In Defense of Plants blog has a great post about the ecology and pollination biology of the species.