Saturday, October 18, 2014

Habeneria rhodocheila at the NCOS Show last weekend

This plant is native from South China into the Philippines but it brings back memories of another orange habeneria, Habeneria ciliaris, now more correctly, Platynanthera ciliaris, from 50 years ago. I was 12 on a family camping trip somewhere in West Virginia. I don't remember where. Hiking along a fire trail, I came upon a sizable colony fully in flower. Heady stuff for a budding naturalist! It was a piece of cake to identify in Peterson's wildflower guide. There weren't that many orange flowers. Though I've encountered it numerous time in the intervening years it still makes me smile to remember this first discovery.