A cluster of seven blooming ghost orchids hang from a bald cypress tree roughly 45 feet in the air and 150 feet away from the boardwalk in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in northeast Collier County on Wednesday. After 12 years without a ghost orchid sighting in the preserve, a pair of bird watchers discovered an unusually large cluster of nine of the rare and endangered orchid while searching the swamp for owls on July 7. The endangered ghost orchid, known scientifically as Polyrrhiza lindenii, only grows in Southwest Florida and Cuba, and normally blooms in clusters of one to three flowers for about two weeks.

Photo by DAVID ALBERS, Daily News

A cluster of seven blooming ghost orchids hang from a bald cypress tree roughly 45 feet in the air and 150 feet away from the boardwalk in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in northeast Collier County on Wednesday. After 12 years without a ghost orchid sighting in the preserve, a pair of bird watchers discovered an unusually large cluster of nine of the rare and endangered orchid while searching the swamp for owls on July 7. The endangered ghost orchid, known scientifically as Polyrrhiza lindenii, only grows in Southwest Florida and Cuba, and normally blooms in clusters of one to three flowers for about two weeks.

Buy this photo

Photo Rating:

Comments » 0

Be the first to post a comment!

Share your thoughts

Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.

Comments can be shared on Facebook and Yahoo!. Add both options by connecting your profiles.

Features