(Re) Searching for the Cranefly Orchid in the Home Woods November 7, 2025

 

(Re) Searching for Cranefly Orchids in the Home Woods

November 7, 2025

Woods, with Silas

Woods, with N.T.

Back in 2020, I had one of my most exciting discoveries in the Home Woods – the presence of native Cranefly Orchids (Tipularia discolor)! Well, the leaves – I've wanted to find out if the colony ever sent up a blooming stalk, but … I've had trouble finding them again. I was successful in October 2021 when I searched again, and thought that I had made a good mental picture of the location, but evidently not good enough. I did make another exciting discovery that day, though – a colony of young White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda), also called Doll's Eyes, near the Cranefly area.

I wrote about that exciting first time I found the Cranefly Orchid plants. That can be experienced by checking out this blog post: Pandemic Discoveries: Home Woods: 2020-2021: Introduction and Part I: https://terriofthetrails.blogspot.com/2021/10/pandemic-discoveries-part-i.html

I researched Cranefly Orchid, learned a great deal (including the odd and fascinating way the flowers are pollinated) and put that information in the blog post.

[This also led to the discovery and reading of a mystery novel; The Cranefly Orchid Murders, by Cynthia Riggs.]

I made more attempts, now and then, to locate the Cranefly Orchid plants, knowing which slope they were on, and a very broad section of that slope that I thought included them. But how far along that slope area were they? And how far up the slope from the Creek? What was around them? I remembered the White Baneberry/Doll's Eyes patch, but where was that, exactly? Those plants are not evident all year. And where were the Cranefly Orchids in reference to the Baneberry?

Obviously, this is not a slope that I frequent often.

It is funny, the quite serendipitous, quite accidental way that I first found the little Cranefly Orchid colony in 2020. It is also serendipitous, and sort of accidental, and rather humorous, how I found it again. Read on for the funny adventure.

The very dark green leaves of Cranefly Orchid show up in late summer or fall and stay all winter. They are not large and always look as if they've just started emerging from the ground. They fade off and disappear in the spring. In place of the leaves, if conditions are right, a stalk arises that will have tiny green-brown orchid flowers along it, blooming from bottom to top. These and the very slender stalk are not easy to see in the summer whilst surrounded by greenery and other colors. I still want to find out if my colony blooms, but I knew I had a better chance of finding the dark leaves in the fall, and before many tree leaves had fallen to cover them.

November 7^th seemed to be a perfect time. The woods had been turning golden but there was still plenty of green. At most, fallen leaves had created one light, fluffy layer on the ground. The weather and other conditions were perfect that day. Most importantly, I felt physically able to go explore!

I would be traversing the slope to the southeast of where I entered the woods.

It's normally not a good idea to walk that way, all along a slope in one direction, one side of the body lower than the other. I would do some climbing up and down, here and there, but my right leg let me know later, very strongly, that mostly putting up-slope pressure on that side was not a good idea

But (spoiler), it would all be worth it.

First, though, I turned to my left for a bit. I knew there was a colony of Puttyroot Orchid (Aplectrum hyemale), also known as Adam-and-Eve, which are very similar to Cranefly.

Puttyroot Orchid leaves

I figured that seeing those would help train my eyes for the Cranefly search. The leaves of Puttyroot are generally not as dark as Cranefly, and they have a pinstripe design on top. Cranefly leaves are dark on top and brilliant purple on the undersides. Puttyroot leaves do not have the purple.

Dry creek bed

Then I carefully ambled my way across the right-hand slope, not stumbling much at all, though I did have too much pressure on my right leg. Along the way I took in the scenery and some details.

Paw-paw seedling trees

Some green plants emerging early - Sweet Cicely?

Red Maple and Sassafras leaves

Reflection of sky on water peeking through the leaf layer

A little "pond" in a tree hole, with a leaf "boat"

While looking for Cranefly Orchid leaves, you notice spots of very dark green, but those can be deceiving.

I spy a spot of dark green ...

... which is a clump of dark moss.

On I went, sometimes scaling up or down the slope a bit. Would the Cranefly leaves be too covered up by fallen tree leaves, or by fallen branches? Would they be gone entirely, a failed colony?

I got far enough along to the area where I had tagged many Japanese Bittersweet vines with pink tape for cutting and treating. I need to get to those soon!

Then I got to the area where I had seen a grove of White Baneberry shrubs a couple of times. It seemed that should be a good indication. But where, from there?

I was about two-thirds of the way up the slope, looking down and around. I started carefully picking my way back down the slope, slowly.

Then … whoops!!

My feet slid out from under me on the fallen leaves. My rear end landed softly on them and the upper part of my body was cradled by the upward slop. It was a slip, not a fall, and the woods took care of me. It all happened in an instant.

My legs were splayed out in front of me, down-slope, in a V shape, with my tennie-clad feet sticking upwards. Nothing hurt at all. In fact … I laughed!

A slippery slope, with N.T.

While looking down toward my feet, I gasped. There was a small group of dark things just beyond my feet, framed by my legs.

“There they are!” I shouted out loud. I probably squealed. And I laughed! What a hilarious way to find what I was looking for – as if I was in a movie.

I scooted down a little, closer to them, and brushed away the fallen leaves to see them better.

Then I turned over a leaf, just to be sure. The leaf undersides were a little dirty, but they were definitely deep purple.

Hurray!!!

And I seemed to have also exposed one of the corms – a “current corm”, instead of an older, withered one or a new one that had not taken full shape.

The starchy corm provides food for the single leaf that grows from it. Roots grow from the corm, also.

From my comfortable vantage point on the leaf-covered ground, I made mental notes of the location – much better ones this time. I noted the curve of the creek below and some other landmarks around the area that would likely stay the same for a long time. I had already learned to not rely on the positions of logs and limbs on the ground that can change position from gravity, weather, and decomposition.

The next task I needed to accomplish was to … stand up again. On our steepest slope, on slippery fallen leaves, with leg problems. If I could find a semi-level spot where I could do a Downward Dog …

I scooted over to a very strong sapling and was able to gradually pull myself up. And while I was doing that, I spotted … another Cranefly Orchid leaf!

It was just one lone leaf, standing perfectly, with an obvious petiole, but it showed me that the colony had been starting to spread.

The general area

I decided I would leave the woods by going straight up the slope instead of negotiating the slope sideways again (which would have also pained my left leg.) On my way up, I was soon rewarded by the sight of a Rattlesnake Fern's fertile frond glowing in the afternoon sunlight.

Rattlesnake Fern - fertile frond opened

Like the Cut-Leaf Grape Fern (Botrychium dissectum), the Rattlesnake (Botrychium virginianum) has a group of serrated leaves near the ground that are sterile. A stalk grows upward and presents the spore-producing upper portion (in its early stage, before opening out, it can look like the rattle end of a rattlesnake.) As the spore-producing section ripens, it turns to golden or tawny shades. Rattlesnake Fern's sterile leaves will disappear, while Grape Fern's will persist all winter.

Rattlesnake Fern - sterile leaves and fertile frond

Cut-leaf Grape Fern - sterile leaves

One last look down-slope presented a sun-dappled, golden scene.

Onward and upward.

I will check the spot again in the summer, in case the Cranefly Orchids bloom.

********************************

My 2020 post about finding the Cranefly Orchid plants includes sources at the end for further information.

Here I am including a couple of additional web sources:

Clemson University Home and Garden Information Center:

hgic.clemson.edu/cranefly-orchid

Good photos of the blossoms, and a photo of a noctuid moth (pollinator)

Arkansas Native Plant Society

anps.org/2015/16/know-your-natives-crane-fly-orchid

This page included close-up photos of the blossoms, dry stalks with dry seed pods, and a photo of the corms in three stages.

Finally Back Into the Woods! Home Woods October 17, 2025

 

One of the rare flattish spaces in the home woods, which I call The Peninsula. It's one of the few places where one could pitch a tent. I love the scenery from here.

Finally Back Into the Woods!

Home Woods

October 17, 2025

So many variables had kept me from exploring my Home Woods all summer: storms and heavy rains, very hot weather, my own physical pain that made it hard to wander. We had so many storms, and I tend to avoid going into these woods, which are mainly slopes, after a storm, heavy rain, or strong winds, due to the loosening of trees and limbs. In fact, a number of times we heard, from the porch, the crackle and snap of wood breaking, the clatter of it falling through the canopy, and the plunk of heavy wood hitting the ground. I had been wondering what had fallen, but could not see anything well enough by looking down from the top edge of the woods.

Evidently, Silas and N.T. had taken many trips into the woods over time, wearing a now-obvious trail. This is where I tend to enter the woods, and I think they had missed going with me.

By October 17, I was feeling well enough to start exploring again, and the rash of storms had been well behind us. In fact, we had been in a period of drought, and this turned out to be the last day of it. I had a good window of opportunity before the rains started and I had also learned to take advantage of days when I was doing better.

Looking along the slope to the southeast of where I entered the woods - still a very green scene.

Leaves were just barely starting to turn color, so most of the scenery was still quite green. The leaf litter layer was just starting to form on the woods floor, too.

The low area in the bottom of the woods, with the dry Creek to the right.

A canopy shot, with one spot of red.

Sassafras leaf - one of the earliest color-turning tree species

Recently fallen tree across the background

One of the fallen trees was an old one that had stood near Cottonwood Pond, decaying over a long time. I was not surprised that it had fallen, but somewhat surprised that it hadn't fallen sooner. Various insects and other critters (including woodpeckers) had been gnawing, chopping, pecking at it for a long time.

Holes from wood-boring beetles further up the trunk

A piece of bark had fallen across it - to me it resembled a Gar fish!

Besides the work that had been done on the fallen, rotten tree, I found other signs of animal life.

A large crawdad chimney had been worn by water, creating this long, gaping hole.

A squirrel has eaten part of this Black Walnut nut that still had a green husk. I could hear squirrels scampering in the woods and chattering.

A spider's sheet web suspended between tree trunks, catching some fallen leaves as well as prey.

A sheet/tunnel web built on the ground

At the tail end of a drought, I did not expect to find much variety of fungi, especially the fleshy, more short-lived kinds. What I did find were the tougher shelf mushrooms growing on trees and logs, which have their own variety and beauty. 

There were a number of green plants, some at the end of their season ...

White Snakeroot plants at the end of their season, with fluffy white seed tops

Rattlesnake Ferns finish up in the fall and disappear or the winter, rising again the following spring. This one looks tired out.

... and some recently emerged, either evergreen or starting their cycle in late summer and autumn.

Unlike Rattlesnake Ferns, the similar looking Cut-leaved Grape Ferns rejuvenate in autumn and will remain visible all winter, often turning a shade of bronze during cold weather.

These are new leaves of Puttyroot Orchid. They will be evident all winter. Next spring they will start to wither. If the plant is ready to flower, then a flowering stalk will rise in late spring to sport tiny orchids. These will develop into oval brown seed pods that will hang onto the stalk. Then new Puttyroot leaves will arise in the fall again.

Leaves of Sharp-Lobed Hepatica, which tend to be evident throughout the year. This is a spring ephemeral - the beautiful flowers show up in early spring.

At the top of the back slope Silas, N.T. and I were hearing some rattles through the trees and loud plunks onto the floor. Green-husked Black Walnuts were falling!

It was time for us to remove ourselves from that area and head back before one of us would get beaned by a walnut, but not before I picked one up to smell it. Fresh green Black Walnut husks are one of my favorite scents - sharp, citrusy, woodsy.

The "canopy" of a very tall triple-trunk Black Walnut tree that fell some years ago.

As we worked our way around toward the front part of the woods, my eye caught something that seemed off-kilter. Well, it was off-kilter - another fallen tree, though this one was caught by surrounding trees before it could hit the ground. And it looked like it had bent a younger tree with it.

Over time, I know I will observe that fallen tree disintegrate, feeding many kinds of animal life, as well as fungi, bacteria, and maybe some species of slime mold. New plant life will grow from the broken-down material. The slanted tree will give way and fall the rest of the way to the ground.

And so it goes ...