Ponthieva racemosa (Shadow witch orchid)

At the Ponthieva racemosa locality, we found thousands of plants, but almost all were past bloom and were producing seed. Fortunately, there were three plants that still had a couple of flowers left.

We are spending the weekend along the Atlantic Coastal Plain. This is a great time for fall wildflowers, including native orchids.

Our first stop was the Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston, South Carolina.