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Wild Orchids on Guam


When we were driving back home from Talefofo Caves, on the cross island road, all of a sudden my husband heard the cry of a botanist, "Stop!  There's flowers!  Lots of them!"


In fact, those flowers turned out to be wild orchids.  Yipee!  I had heard there were some on Guam, but I didn't know if they would be blooming when we were there.  They were sprinkled through the grass abundant as daisies. 


 The purple/pink and white blossoms bloom one at a time on the end of a long stalk, up above a long row of leaves.


They are about 3 inches across, and very lovely!


My big problem right now is that I can't find their name on the internet.  And I don't have a guide to the wildflowers of Guam.  People here don't seem to pay attention to nature on Guam, just taking it for granted.  The next time we go to town, I'll see if we can find the biggest library here and try to find some help.  


There was another flower growing with the orchids.  I can't decide if it is an orchid too, or something else.  Any ideas?


 Since there was such a great abundance of the orchids, I allowed myself the privilage of a boquet on my table.  It lasted almost a week, until the heat of a closed house cooked them.


 In the photo below you can see how their seed pods progress.  By looking at this I discovered that the plants do grow more then one flower.  They just bud and bloom one at a time.  I am wondering how long their blooming season extends.


People here grow lovely domestic orchids in their yards.  I like them all.  But I think that the untouched wild ones are the most special of all.

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Comments

  1. La Tea DahFebruary 11, 2013 at 3:51 PM

    Just beautiful! They kind of remind me of our grass widows, except they are much more exotic, of course.

    I am really enjoying your posts. It looks like you are having a wonderful, educational, busy, relaxing, and genuinely fun time!

    ReplyDelete
  2. HeidiFebruary 11, 2013 at 4:36 PM

    I'm glad "the cry of a botanist" was heeded, and that you got to meet some new lovely friends.

    ReplyDelete

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