It’s orchid time again

The rocky, hilly, northwestern part of Austin that I live in lies along the eastern fringe of a large region known as the Texas Hill Country. Just a few miles from my home is the slope shown here, which on October 29th was home to this Great Plains ladies’ tresses orchid, Spiranthes magnicamporum (in fact magnicamporum is botanical Latin for ‘of the Great Plains’, even if the species’ range extends into Austin’s hills as well). The dark trunks in the distance are Ashe junipers, Juniperus ashei.

If you’d like a closer look at one of these orchids in isolation, you’re invited to check out a post from the fall of 2012.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman