2006-09-02 Day trip to the Francis Marion National Forest to check out the status of some Pteroglossaspis ecristata orchids I had seen just coming up a few weekends ago. We managed to dodge the worst of hurricane Ernesto two days ago, but got lots of needed rain in the forest. Looks like other orchids were doing well, too.

The Ptero. ecristata in our area are quite different in appearance from those in Florida. The flowers on ours are a dusty purplish rose with a deep mahogony purple lip. The flowers on the plants in Florida are mostly yellow or yellow green with a dark brownish purple lip. In any case, they are rare in South Carolina, and even harder to see in the savannah grasses. Looks like I'll have to go back to check on those plants that are yet in bud... What's another 3.5 hours each way for something like this?

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