EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — When you think of wild flowers in Pennsylvania, you may think of bluebells, goldenrod, or lilies. But how about orchids?
Pennsylvania is home to nearly sixty species of native orchids and two area botanists have made the discovery of a lifetime. However, it needs to remain a secret.
“This has to be kept confidential,” stated botanist Rick Koval.
“First thing I did of course is get on the phone with Rick and say you got to get up there,” recalled botanist Stan Galenty.
Upon his discovery, Galenty said “Well…I just found three birds orchid. Wow.”
To the wild orchid enthusiast, Three Birds Orchid, Triphora Trianthophora, is one of the most sought-after orchids in the entire world because of its immense rarity and scarcity.
“This is so out of the box of where this orchid grows,” stated Koval.
And two botanists in Luzerne County just found the Holy Grail!
“And this is an amazing find, amazing population, probably one of the northeast’s largest populations,” described Koval.
“I won’t say it’s a miracle but it’s wonderful that they’ve come back to the same spot for the third year in a row,” said Galenty.
“Just finding one of these is a botanical lottery. It’s like Mega Millions to us,” explained Koval.
But these tiny, unassuming plants to most are a big deal to plant lovers.
“The leaves are smaller than my pinky fingernail,” described Koval.
“They are fickle. Sometimes they’ll pop up for a year and not to be seen again for who knows how long,” said Galenty.
Botanists and nature lovers travel great distances when word gets out of rare discoveries like this.
“I know friends that go to Arizona to look for orchids, to Florida. Recently, a friend of mine went to southern Maryland and North Carolina to find orchids,” said Koval.
Although finding this needle in a haystack is possible given the location, right now it must be kept undisclosed while scientists from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources work to study and preserve this species.
“Fortunately, this is on public land, state land. And this is a blessing because private landowners, they have the right to manage their property the way they want to. We don’t want them to be rare, and so the way we could keep them from not being rare is learning about them, let the right researchers know about this,” explained Koval.
Nature is beautiful. NEPA is beautiful, very pretty. But if you have any inclination of wanting to take something home with you after a hike…
“Take pictures, pictures are priceless and you keep them forever in your memory card. And in your memory,” instructed Koval.
Bottom line, get out and just open your eyes!
“You can walk down a trail and not only find, you know, 50 species of plants, mosses and liverworts, you can find hundreds of them and they’re everywhere,” said Galenty.
And who knows, you may even find something rare!
“We kind of tease each other and until we step on it, we don’t stop each other. When you do see it, it’s a gem. It’s a treat. It’s magical. It’s a treasure, and it’s the glorious Three Birds Orchid,” described Koval.
PA Live! host Chris Bohinski described his experience with Koval, Galenty, and the orchids as quite the trek through bramble and thorny plants, but it was definitely worth it to see the beautiful flowers…and the adventure along the way!
