Hunting for orchids

ANGOLA, Ind. -- Within earshot of Interstate 69 and the Indiana Toll Road lies some of the wildest land in northeast Indiana's Steuben County containing rare lady's-slipper orchids.\nThe treasure is so beautiful and rare that some people have been known to risk the poison sumac-tangled, Massasauga rattlesnake-infested, soupy bogs where the orchids live.\nOrchids hold a special, unexplainable mystique in the imaginations of many who establish clubs and societies around this wonderful creature. People collect them, trade them, grow them and brag about the ones they have seen or have acquired.\nWorldwide there are more than 30,000 species of orchids, making it one of the largest families of plants on the earth. Found all over the world from the tropics to the tundra, Indiana has 43 species of orchids.\nAll orchids, including the plant that brings us vanilla extract, the greenhouse orchids that adorn Mothers Day corsages, and the showy lady's-slipper orchid, emerge from seed as a single leaf blade, like grass. The leaves all have parallel veins, like the leaves of the corn plant instead of the divergent pattern of veins on a maple leaf.\nThey also are symmetrical in design, with three petal-like leaves called sepals and three flower petals. One of the flower petals is unlike the other two in that it is more decorative and forms a sort of lip.\nLady's-slipper orchids are unique in that they do not produce nectar. The flowers are not self-fruitful; they need insects to cross-pollinate. Bees, particularly bumblebees, are the primary pollinators.\nSteuben County has four of the five lady's-slipper orchids known from Indiana. One, the moccasin flower, is in southern Indiana. But the other four can still be found in the wild places of northeast Indiana.\nAll of the lady's-slipper orchids are on Indiana's Watch List because of their scarcity.\nTwo of the four, the white lady's-slipper and the small yellow lady's-slipper, are on the state's Rare, Threatened and Endangered List of Species. Once more common than they are today, these two species are found in fewer than 20 sites in the state.\nHabitat destruction remains the chief threat to the survival of these two species. For years, the wild places that are home to the orchids have been drained, tilled, grazed and filled for development. There now are only a few relatively undisturbed bogs and fens in Indiana.