So I'm slowly getting through the different wildlife I found in the White Mountains. It seems like about two million years ago that I was actually there. But here is a flowering plant we found in our campsite. We guessed, correctly, that it was an orchid. I managed to figure out that it was a pseudorchis genus but haven't been able to get any further. Nor have I found much information on the psuedhorchis genus other than that it has a few members common to the northeast US. Orchids are especially common in the tropics but will grow just about anywhere and are extremely varied. Most orchid fruits produce a huge amount of seeds, sometimes in the millions. These seeds are generally only a few cells and require a special relationship with a mycorrhizal fungus to germinate (thanks again fungi!).
I also just learned today that vanilla is an orchid. Beautiful and delicious!
Sources:
Stern, Kingsley R. (2006) Introductory Plant Biology, Edition Ten. New York, NY: McGraw Higher Education.
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