Hi Mara, I answered in your other hread but will do so here as well for posterity. Let us know what you uncover.
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Looks like a coralroot orchid to me. Try looking up Hexalectris Nitida and go from there. Having no rosette/leaves sure fits the bill as myco-heterotrophy (gets it food from fungi)

Yes, I did find it googling. My email system notifying me of responses is on the blink so I was googling away and leafing through wildflower books. I went through the Corralhizo family and then got turned on to the Hexalectris family when I googled Texas orchids. I came on to tell people I found it but they found it too. LOL>. Anyway it is considered a VERY rare orchid in NM and a rare one here but not quite as rare. I have never had a rare plant on my land before. I am looking at those seeds and wondering about germinating them. I need to contact LBJ flower Center and NPSOT and ask how to proceed . I am so excited. It grows in the TranspPecos area and Edwards Plateau.

how cool is that?! I'm by no means an expert on germinating orchid seeds but I imagine it's rather difficult. Because the seeds have no store of food to speak of, they must rely on fungi to sustain them while growing. Getting that right I'd wager to be tough but I would think since you had one growing, that soil must certainly have a good amount to sustain the parent so using that soil with the chopped up roots of the parent would be where I'd start thinking. I could be WAY off though so don't take what I say to heart please lol.

With one as rare as you have, you bet I'd be doing what I could to keep them going. Perhaps the orchid forum can be of assistance as well. I sure would like to continue to hear about what you discover, how you proceed, and what your results are :)

Marc

WEll, I would be just a tad frightened of chopping up the roots!!!. They say to not disturb the below ground parts. I do know that I have seen Mushrooms come up there when it gets wet.

I did find this description on the interesting URL below. Also interesting of what orchids like what tree types but they seem to seemingly cluster in the SAME woods. So I should go down there and take a closer look. I saw this baby because I started my winter clearing during the heat of the summer. What a reward for sweating!

"As far as I can determine, nobody knows for sure what prompts these saprophytic species to bloom. One year they may have hundreds of flowers and the next year none. Therefore, I have accumulated weather data for the years 1980-1986 in an attempt to correlate blooming with temperature and rainfall. From this information, it seems clear that generous rainfall in the late spring is necessary for flowering of Hexalectris nitida. Similarly, early spring rains are required for the blooming of Corallorhiza wisteriana. This corresponds nicely to the blooming times of March to May for Corallorhiza wisteriana and July to September for Hexalectris nitida. I have not yet established a correlation with the temperature."

Here is a link that might be useful: Sacrophytic Orchids of Dallas

Yeah please don't go chopping up the parent. I was just thinking out loud about getting the correct amount and type of mycorrhizal. I do know certain mycorrhizal fungi prefer certain types of hosts so definitely collect your data on the surrounding host plants and trees. Having that data may not help, but certainly won't hurt.

I've been reading on the "flasking" technique and even sending the seeds to an orchid nursery to have them flask germinate and return to you after a couple of years. I just read the average for the nitida from germination to bloom is 10-20 years. whoah. Out of my league!

Have you looked at Hexalectris spicata?

Congrats, Mara! Hope you'll get to see it in full bloom someday! I don't know a lot about the native Texas orchids. But I remember seeing a few, years ago when I would go visit the parks and such in the Bastrop area.