The first time I saw a cigar orchid was on private property at my job in Florida. I had walked by it without realizing it was an orchid until I walked back by it later on and it registered that it was a cigar orchid. They aren’t all that common but since seeing that first one I’ve gotten the chance to see a few others in Fakahatchee as well as the specimen that is probably the most well known down in Everglades NP.

Zebra longwing butterfly, Heliconius charithonia A weedy but beautiful native, Bidens alba. Firebush, Hamelia patens Northern needleaf bromeliad, Tillandsia balbisiana On our last day of our swamping trek through Fakahatchee Strand back in early March, I spent most of the morning hanging out at the parking area on Janes Scenic Drive at the East Main Tram gate. Chris was going out into the swamp with a few of the others that morning and I was not up for another morning in the swamp. I was still dealing with some mild morning sickness and general malaise at that time and preferred to just soak in the time spent at the cabin…

I’m digging through the last of the Florida photos from March and have several orchids I want to share with you, this species being one of them. This is a tiny, epipyhytic orchid with small purple flowers resembling the purple utricularia, a species of carnivorous plant that lives in the water, hence the species part of its name. There’s some other interesting information about this orchid in the Dade chapter of the Florida Native Plane Society’s newsletter here if you scroll down about 3/4 of the way. It’s a sweet little orchid that is easily passed by if you aren’t looking for it.