I took off work on Friday and joined a small group to help look for more individuals of a federally listed endangered orchid species, Spirantes parksii, in a county west of where it had previously been known to exist. I didn't find any - I spent more time trying to photograph it - but several more were found.

Mostly, I just enjoyed getting to see it up close and learn to distinguish it from other orchid species around here. The next morning, I was up and out taking a closer look at the ones that are common around here, further west of where we looked at the endangered ones.

I learned that some use vegetative seed production (apomixis) and even self-pollinate inside of flowers that never open (cleistogamy)!

The older I get, the more I find I don't know or, as Thomas Jefferson said, "Though an old man, I am but a young gardener."