Rare Orchids Found in Lake County Preserves in Illinois
7/18/98
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Title: Rare Orchids Found in Lake County Preserves in Illinois
Source and Byline: Lon Grahnke
Status: Contact source for reprint permissions
Date: 7/18/98
Two rare species of orchids have been blooming in Lake County forest preserves
near
Libertyville and Lake Forest.
In June, natural-resource manager Jim Anderson found 22 Eastern prairie-fringed
orchids
during a site assessment at the 1,106-acre Independence Grove Forest Preserve,
near
Libertyville.
Eastern prairie-fringed orchids are on the state's endangered list and are
classified as
a threatened species by the federal government.
The species ``have not been reproducing because they lost their pollinator, the
hawk
moth,'' Anderson said Friday.
Without their natural pollinator, the plants must be hand-pollinated to produce
seeds.
Finding the Eastern prairie-fringed orchids ``is more exciting because this
[ongoing
search] is a regional effort,'' said Ken Klick, a restoration ecologist with the
Lake
County Forest Preserves.
Although the endangered orchids have passed their flowering stage, and they
appear
sporadically, the plants ``have a great chance to bloom again,'' Anderson said.
Independence Grove is scheduled to open to the public in 2000.
Two Eastern prairie-fringed orchids were found by volunteer steward Jim Johnson
last
month in a sedge meadow at Middlefork Savanna Forest Preserve near Lake Forest.
The prairie-fringed orchids stand 3 to 4 feet high, with a flower head 6 to 7
inches
tall, containing 10 to 30 bright white flowers about an inch in diameter.
The species can be found in greater abundance in two other forest preserves in
northeastern Lake County.
At Spring Bluff Forest Preserve near Winthrop Harbor, members of a natural-
resource crew
found a second rare species--the ragged-fringed orchid. Although the ragged-
fringed plant
is not classified as a threatened species, it is more commonly found in the Lake
Michigan
lakefront areas of Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The sighting was the first on Lake County Forest Preserve property. The only
other known
population in northern Illinois is at nearby Illinois Beach State Park near
Zion.
A native of sandy prairies, the ragged-fringed orchid stands 1 to 2 feet high.
It has
short, wide leaves with greenish-yellow flowers that form tight clusters. The
new
population will be monitored by the Natural Resource Management team.