The secret life of a flower

They come here and search out rare orchids for their own gratification and remove them, he said. Which makes them all the more rare. We need to be careful. Some of these folks are real sleuths.

Just past a clump of huckleberry bushes ripe with purple berries,Ron Wilson,a former high school science teacher-turned-professional botanist,held his bright yellow global positioning device close to his face,the better to read the plot points he recorded a few weeks ago when he discovered the hybrid.

Despite cajoling by the preserves owner,the Nature Conservancy,Fehrer remained so conflicted about publicly announcing Wilsons find that the orchid went in and out of flower while he tried to make up his mind. Fehrer sent a few blunt e-mails of objection. Went on vacation. Thought it over. Finally,he relented,on condition that the exact location be kept secret.

We had an ongoing discussion with a lot of back-and-forths, said Jon Schwedler,the conservancys press person in Bethesda,Maryland. Still,by the time Schwedler sent out a news release this month,the hybrid orchids showy yellow flowers had withered and gone to seed. That made Fehrer happy at the time but now makes it close to impossible to find the orchid in this 25-acre swath of boggy greenery.

I think its somewhere over by this colicroot, said Wilson,trudging head down,his white knee socks pulled up over his khaki pants to prevent ticks and other insects from feasting on his legs.

The reason rare orchids and grasses are popping up all over this bog is fire. In May,the Nature Conservancy set the whole area ablaze. The controlled burn of what had once been a timber plantation of loblolly pines was designed to mimic the natural cycle of flood or fire that encroaching civilisation has thrown out of kilter. The burn created a wide,open,sunny habitat,bringing to life seeds that had been dormant in the soil for years.

Almost immediately after news of the find broke,Fehrers phone started ringing. The orchid heads were on the hunt. Fehrer said he was busy,couldnt help them.

What Fehrer at this moment does not know is that the orchid heads have already found this rare hybrid,blogging and obsessing about it for days on e-mail lists and in Internet chat rooms. Theyve even posted a photo that a local orchid head took on a surreptitious visit to the bog.

Paul Martin Brown,who has written books on some of the 268 species of orchids native to the United States,saw the picture online. It was a beautiful individual, he said. If I wanted to go see it and no one would tell me where it was,it wouldnt be that hard to figure out.

In the hierarchy of orchids,Canbys bog orchid isnt all that special. Not like the rarely seen ghost orchid or any number of the 35,000 tropical orchid species that can only live in one very specific place,growing in one particular fungus and sometimes pollinated by only one insect on Earth.

But the bog orchids parents,the white-fringed orchid (Platanthera blephariglottis) and the crested yellow orchid (Platanthera cristata),are both rare in Maryland. Each requires slightly different habitats. And each is pollinated by a different kind of moth. They are not rare in other states,such as Texas. What got orchid heads buzzing was that the hybrid was found in Maryland,where it hadnt been seen in decades. Its the rarity factor, said Scott Stewart,a professor of horticulture and a self-described orchid head. When you find one,its a little like stumbling across a diamond.

Like Fehrer and Wilson,orchid heads can be secretive about their finds. The vast majority of us just want to see it, Stewart said. Say theyve seen it and check it off their life list of orchids they want to view. But there is an extreme element. They want to dig it up and put it in their own personal collection,even if its illegal.

The sky began to cloud over. Sweat broke through Wilsons gray T-shirt as he squatted close to the ground in search of the plant. Suddenly,he stopped. He leaned down and peeked at two thin,unremarkable green stalks with a single slender leaf,no more than about eight inches high. A deer had most likely come along and chomped the flower and most of the rest of the rare Canbys bog orchid for lunch. If I found this today,I wouldnt know its the hybrid, Wilson said,shaking his head. Id probably have to do DNA analysis.

Joe Fehrer leaned back on his heels and smiled. His secret was safe.