Epidendrum magnoliae (Green-fly orchid)

These beauties are located on the limbs of live oak trees in the church yard of St. James Santee Church in Charleston County, SC. I didn't bring a ladder with me this time, so you will have to settle for seeing them at a distance. They were about fifteen to twenty feet from the ground...

Recently, I made a day trip down to the Francis Marion National Forest which is located in Berkeley and Charleston Counties of South Carolina. It covers about 250,000 acres and contains some of the best longleaf pine forests in the southeast.

It is a prime location for native orchids, both terrestrial and epiphytic. My hope was to locate and photograph both Platanthera cristata and Epidendrum magnoliae -- two orchid species found along the Atlantic Coastal Plain.