Calopogon tuberosus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tuberous Grass Pink | ||||||||||||||
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 C. tuberosus var. tuberosus
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| Calopogon tuberosus Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. |
The Tuberous Grass Pink (Calopogon tuberosus) is an orchid native to the eastern United States from as far southwest as Texas and Oklahoma and southeast to the Florida Everglades to as far northeast as Maine and as far northwest as Minnesota. It is listed as an endangered species by the states of Illinois, Kentucky, and Maryland, and as exploitably vulnerable by New York. In Canada it is found in the provinces of Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. It also is found in Cuba and the Bahamas.
Calopogon, like many other orchids, is an indicator species for good remnant hydrology. Translated into English everyone else understands, that means that the presence of native orchids in a natural area shows that there is high-quality ground and surface water around. Most species of calopogon frequent wet, sunny swales, bogs, the edges of marshy areas, and associates with ferns, sedges, grasses and forbs. Calopogon oklahomensis has been observed in drier areas than Calopogon tuberosus would prefer. One distinguishing feature of the grass pinks is that, unlike most orchids, they are non-resupinate. The lip of calopogon is on the top of the flower, not the bottom, as is common with most other genera. The brushy, yellow protuberances on the lip are also designed to attract pollinators, but they only tempt without providing a reward. To add injury to insult, the flower then snaps closed when a potential pollinator lands on it, and the insect has to crawl out of the tight quarters between the lip and the reproductive parts below in order to escape, hopefully pollinating the flower in the process. The other deception they use is their frequent association with nectar-bearing flowers of the same color; calopogon is often an associate of the magenta marsh phlox, in the northern United States, the phlox bearing nectar to reward curious insects while the deceptive but showy calopogon does not.
