Types Of Northern Orchids

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Orchid species growing in the Northwest

Lady's slipper

What do we imagine when we hear the word - orchid? Most of us see orchids as bright, luxurious flowers from the rainforest. The orchid family is the largest family of dicotyledonous plants with more than 25,000 species, and more and more new species are constantly being discovered.

Indeed, in nature, most orchid species grow in the tropics and subtropics of Asia and South America. However, many orchid species grow almost anywhere in the world, with the exception of the polar regions and extremely arid desert regions. In Russia, even in the north, orchids are also found in the wild. For example, in the North-West of European Russia - Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod regions - there are 28 species of wild-growing orchids.

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Lady's slipper

All plants of this family have common, typically orchidic characteristics: a special structure of flowers and root system. The orchid flower is bilaterally symmetrical, consists of three sepals and three petals. The petals are usually brighter than the sepals.

But this is not always the case, as there are species of orchids whose sepals are more impressive than the petals. The lip on the orchid flower serves as a landing site for insects, so it is usually brightly colored and sometimes resembles a particular pollinator to make it even more attractive.

Orchid roots are fragile on the inside, protected on the outside by a thick layer of spongy protective tissue, consisting mainly of dead cells, which are highly absorbent and provide the roots with everything they need. Orchid roots, in addition to attachment and nutrition, perform an important function - they form mycorrhiza with a symbiotic fungus.

The meaning of these complex interactions lies in the fact that the orchid and the mushroom supply each other with substances that they cannot independently synthesize alone or receive from the outside. Therefore, when digging up your favorite orchid in the forest, you should not particularly hope for success - even specialists often fail to transplant orchids from natural habitat into the garden. Without their mushroom companion, orchids in their summer cottages are unlikely to survive, and if they do not die in the first year after transplantation, they will gradually fade away.

Goodayera creeping

Some of the northern orchids, for example, the slipper (cypripedium), are not inferior in beauty to their tropical relatives, and this is not to their advantage: often people pick or dig up their favorite bright bizarre flowers, thereby putting these plants at risk of extinction.

Only about 10 out of 28 northern orchid species can we say with confidence that their number is not decreasing. The rest of the species are either gradually becoming more rare, or are rapidly dying out.

Therefore, if you want to have an orchid at your dacha, it is better to buy it in the nursery. Nevertheless, the name of the nursery alone is not a guarantee of good planting material. It happens that orchids are dug up in the nearest forest in violation of all the rules and, moreover, the law.

To avoid becoming complicit in the offense, pay attention to the appearance of the plant itself: it must be planted in a container, not sold "roots out", and must be accompanied by a botanical tag with the exact name in accordance with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

Baltic fingernail

For example: Cephalantera rubra (L.) Rich. reads as the genus "pollenhead", the specific epithet "red", the author of the description of the species (the author of the old one in brackets, the author of the new one outside of the brackets), the garden form (if any).

An illiterately drawn up tag already arouses suspicion, and its absence speaks for itself. This is generally true of all plants purchased from nurseries.

Usually, the choice of garden orchids in nurseries is not very diverse, but sometimes you can find the following species growing in the wild in the North-West of European Russia.

The lady's slipper (Cypripedium calceolus L.) is one of the most beautiful and impressive orchids. Erect stem with 3-4 broadly elliptical leaves reaches a height of 15-50 cm and bears flowers up to 10 cm in diameter. In May-June, you can see this plant blooming in light forests, on their edges, in thickets of shrubs and even in forest lowland bogs, if they are located on calcareous soils. The petals fused into the saccular lip are yellow and clearly visible from a distance.

Pollen head red

When preparing the soil for planting this species on acidic soils, liming should be carried out and organic matter should be added. By itself, this plant is so spectacular that it overshadows the beauty of most others if it is in mixed plantings.

Therefore, it is better to combine the shoe with decorative deciduous perennials - hosts of various varieties (especially variegated), and in more humid and shady places - with ferns.

The well-established combination of this orchid with the Lady in Red variety looks especially beautiful - openwork fern leaves with red stalks, located in the background of the composition, favorably set off the beauty of the flowers of the Venus shoe.

Creeping goodyera (Goodyera repens (L.) R. Br.) Is very common in our region. It can be seen in shady conifers, less often in mixed green moss forests. From the name it is clear that it spreads well with creeping rhizomes. These rhizomes are green in color, which gives the goodayera additional decorative effect. The leaves of this orchid are often covered with whitish spots, and often inexperienced gardeners, noticing them, rush to treat the plant with various drugs. In fact, such spots are a characteristic physiological sign of this species, and nothing needs to be done with them.

Lyubka is two-leaved

The height of the gudayera is only 8-20 cm, the peduncles are covered with small scaly leaves, the flowers are white, bell-shaped, collected in a one-sided inflorescence, the outer tepals are densely glandular pubescent.

This plant is perfect for creating shady garden compositions in combination with kupena, ungulate and decorative low ferns (for example, maidenhair foot).

Many species of Dactylorhyza have long been cultivated as ornamental plants. They differ in the contrasting color of flowers and leaves, as well as in size. Very showy flowers Dactylorhiza Baltic (Dactylorhiza baltica (Klinge) Nevski), collected in a thick ear covered with a colorful pattern lip: crimson spots on a light pink background.

Together with the wide leaves, also covered with bright spots, the spike looks so beautiful that it is the clear center of any composition, therefore, the palm root should be planted in a separate curtain. A close species to it - Traunsteiner's finger root (Dactylorhyza traunshteineri (Saut) Soo) - is distinguished by a noticeable clear pattern of oblong dark pink strokes on the lilac-pink lip of the flower and a looser ear, but also very decorative.

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Lyubka green-flowered

Red pollen head (Cephalanthera rubra (L.) Rich.) Is a rarer species than the previous one, but its light pink flowers, collected in a rare spike-shaped inflorescence, can be seen in June-July in light deciduous forests. Lilac tepals make it especially bright and decorative. The stem of the pollen head is straight, 25-30 cm tall, with several spaced leaves and a short underground rhizome.

This species can be grown in flower beds, or it can be naturalized in the garden. In order for it to bloom well, of course, mowing the grass should be excluded. As a companion plant, you can use ivy budra - a discreet ground cover plant that will give a juicy green background and draw attention to the blooming pollen head.

Species of the genus Lubka (Platanthera) are very decorative. The leaves of adult plants are oppositely close together and are located at the base of the peduncle, and the flowers with long spurs look like aliens from the tropics. Two-leaved Lyubka (Platanthera bifolia (L.) Rich.) Is widespread in the North-West, it can be seen in damp sparse forests, on forest edges, forest glades, among bushes.

Peduncle height 20-45 cm, blooms in June-July. The second name of this amazing plant is "night violet". So he was nicknamed because of the pleasant smell of flowers, similar to the scent of violets. During the day, Lyubka double-leaved also smells, but especially its smell intensifies at night. Green-flowered lyubka (Platanthera chlorantha (Cust.) Reicherb.) Also has a scent, but much less strong, not everyone can feel it.

Kokushnik longhorn

In addition to light forests and clearings, this species can be found in damp meadows. Unfortunately, due to the decline in livestock production in the past three decades, many pasture meadows have begun to overgrow with dark coniferous forest, which has led to a decrease in the number of this type of orchid.

Both types of lyubka will perfectly fit into compositions of decorative perennials. The combination of lyubka with various types of aquilegia (catchment area) and bells will look very impressive.

It should only be borne in mind that both species need a little shading, especially in the middle of the day, so it is better to place plantings near large trees. Two-leaved Lyubka is also good as a part of ceremonial flower beds near the porch - its aroma in the evenings will add a special note to the garden composition.

Longhorn Kokushnik (Gymnadenia conopsea (L.) R. Br.) Is very rare in nature, but those who have seen it at least once on the outskirts of lowland swamps and forest edges must have remembered this plant. The pink-lilac flowers of a kokushnik, reaching a size of up to 8 mm, are collected in a brush and exude a delicate pleasant aroma. This species can hardly be found in domestic nurseries, but if you see it in natural conditions, do not touch this beautiful, but endangered plant.

Orchis

Orchis (Orchis) gave the name to its family - orchids are also called orchids. The flowers of the orchis (Orchis militaris L.) - reach more than 1 cm in diameter and are collected in a dense raceme.

The pink (or light purple) lip of the flower and the large size of the plant itself (up to 35 cm tall) make it very noticeable in the low-grass meadows and forest glades where it lives. Due to its catchy appearance, orchis is less and less common in nature, since every summer it is collected for bouquets.

Of course, this is not a complete list of orchids growing in our northern forests, but it is important to remember the main thing - if you see an unusual plant with a strange flower, it is better not to pluck it, but to photograph it as a souvenir. Perhaps this is a rare orchid. And to decorate your summer cottage, it is better to buy a ready-made sapling of an orchid plant, adapted to the conditions of the garden, or some other garden culture with similar flowers - iris, aconite or catchment.