{"id":703,"date":"2016-02-08T11:20:27","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T16:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/?p=703"},"modified":"2020-07-20T14:39:20","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T18:39:20","slug":"putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Putty Root Orchid – January 2016 Wildflower of the Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OLYMPUS<\/a>A single leaf above the leaf litter marks the location of this little native orchid in the winter.\u00a0 When flowers appear in May and June, there is no sign of the leaf.\u00a0 While not very common in our area, now and then in rich woods a green-and-white-striped, pleated leaf can be seen lying flat on top of dead leaves.\u00a0 The underside is pale purple.<\/p>\n

Like its more common relative, Cranefly Orchid, Tipularia discolor, this plant reverses the\u00a0 normal cycle of leaves in the summer, and takes advantage of the bare forest trees.\u00a0 Without the\u00a0 trees\u2019 heavy leaf cover, more light reaches the ground, and the purplish underside functions to collect the winter light, allowing photosynthesis to occur in the cells on the silvery-green topside.<\/p>\n

\"Putty-root<\/a>The flowering stalk is less conspicuous than the leaf.\u00a0 Standing only a foot tall, tiny yellowish flowers are spaced along the stalk.\u00a0 Various bees visit the flowers which are also self-fertile. The resulting seeds are distributed by the wind.<\/p>\n

Putty-root Orchid is more frequent in the Piedmont and Mountain regions of Virginia, but can be found occasionally in our area, growing in calcareous ravines, in woods with beech and maple trees. The plant probably requires association with certain mycorrhizal fungi that enhance the uptake of water and minerals from surrounding soils. This little orchid ranges throughout eastern and central U.S. and Canada, usually at higher elevations.<\/p>\n

Clones of this plant can form from the fibrous roots spreading out from the bulbous corms.\u00a0 The alternate common name \u201cAdam and Eve\u201d refers to the basal corms which are usually in pairs<\/p>\n

connected by a rhizome. \u201cPutty-root\u201d refers to a mucilaginous substance which can be removed from the tubers when they are crushed.\u00a0 When mixed with water, the resulting sticky substance was used to mend broken crockery by early European settlers.\u00a0 Native Americans made a paste from the roots to treat boils, and a tea was used to treat bronchial troubles.<\/p>\n

Aplectrum comes from the Latin, meaning that the flowers are \u201cwithout spurs.\u201d\u00a0 The species name hyemale means \u201cwinter\u201d and refers to the fact that this orchid has a solitary leaf that persists all winter.<\/p>\n

By Helen Hamilton, past-president of the John Clayton Chapter, VNPS<\/p>\n

Photo: Putty-root Orchid leaf (Aplectrum hyemale) by Helen Hamilton, Orchid flowers by Phillip Merritt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A single leaf above the leaf litter marks the location of this little native orchid in the winter.\u00a0 When flowers appear in May and June, there is no sign of the leaf.\u00a0 While not very common in our area, now and then in rich woods a green-and-white-striped, pleated leaf can be seen lying flat on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18603,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPutty Root Orchid - January 2016 Wildflower of the Month - John Clayton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putty Root Orchid - January 2016 Wildflower of the Month - John Clayton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A single leaf above the leaf litter marks the location of this little native orchid in the winter.\u00a0 When flowers appear in May and June, there is no sign of the leaf.\u00a0 While not very common in our area, now and then in rich woods a green-and-white-striped, pleated leaf can be seen lying flat on…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Clayton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-08T16:20:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-20T18:39:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2016\/02\/Putty-root-Orchid-HLH-small-243x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"VNPS Communications\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"VNPS Communications\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"VNPS Communications\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/#\/schema\/person\/f733fd3e3626409fd4a4aadfa0810283\"},\"headline\":\"Putty Root Orchid – January 2016 Wildflower of the Month\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-08T16:20:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-20T18:39:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/\"},\"wordCount\":390,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2016\/02\/Putty-root-Orchid-HLH-small-243x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/johnclayton\/2016\/02\/08\/putty-root-orchid-january-2016-wildflower-of-the-month\/\",\"name\":\"Putty Root Orchid - 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