Thursday, September 28, 2006
Worrying About Puttyroots
I worry about too many things: global warming, cowbirds destroying the eggs of our rare warblers, asteroids whizzing about our heads... now my wife has given me a handout that says I should worry about absorbing styrene into my body fat from polystyrene cups. In spite of seemingly a full menu of important concerns, I also find room to worry about the puttyroot orchids. Also known as the Adam and Eve orchid, and more properly as Aplectrum hyemale, this native terrestrial orchid is actually probably tougher than I give it credit for. It's just now putting up its leaves, as shown above, which are hibernal (hyemale refers to winter). They will stay green all winter, laying rather close to the ground if it gets nasty, and then slowly die back next summer, after which the orchid blooms on naked stalks. I will say, it is the turtle of the plant world; its leaf grows at a glacial pace (as befits a plant trying to put out a leaf in the dim, cold autumn). It multiplies even more slowly, taking years to form a good colony. So I worry about it: is it getting enough light... is the soil moist enough going into winter... will there be snow cover to protect the leaves? It's probably all that styrene plastic in my body fat that makes me worry about so many things.
// posted by IBOY @ 6:23 PM 
