Native Orchid Conservation Inc

President's Report - by Doris Ames

After another year full of weather surprises fall has arrived but today one wouldn't know it because of the still summer-like weather. Flooding and intense heat really affected the numbers of people able to get out and attend field trips but I hope to see many of you out for Members Night on Friday October 21st at 7:30pm at 1212 Dakota Street. (see Peggy's write-up elsewhere in the newsletter). The lady's-slippers in bloom were more abundant and beautiful then I ever remember seeing them before and I even had a striped coralroot bloom in the front yard of my cottage in June. I didn't make it out to the field trips this year as my husband Al died in June but there were some new and really interesting trips. Sincere thanks to John Dyck and all the other directors for carrying on without me. I did do some short survey trips and managed to see some unusual plants just the same. Hope to see you on October 21st.

Plant of the Month

Three-flowered Avens  (Geum triflorum)

by Doris Ames

This ever-changing member of the Rose family has been given many common names each referring to a certain stage in its development. The Genus name "Geum" dates back to Pliny the Elder (AD23-79) and was given to the first European species Geum urbanum triflorum. The species name "triflorum" and the common name "three-flowered avens" both refer to the three flowers joined in a group at the top of the stem. Three-flowered avens grows in dry open meadows and tall grass prairie in clumps of 10-100 plants and it is one of the first flowers to appear in the spring. The clumps of bright green, hairy leaves can often be seen in April. Several 15-45cm stems grow from a black horizontal rootstock with black roots.

The 15-20cm finely toothed basal leaves are opposite on the stem and compound-pinnate. The 7-17 leaflets are somewhat spatula-shaped and the terminal leaflet is larger than the others. There is often a soft tuft of leaves halfway up the stem. The entire plant, stem, leaves and flowers is covered with fine hairs. The plant blooms from early May until June. Deep pink, 12-20mm wide nodding flowers appear in threes at the top of a long flower stem. The actual flower petals are inconspicuous, small and yellowish pink in colour but the deep reddish pink bracts and the five long, narrow red sepals flying out from the base of the flower give it a striking appearance.

The flower maintains its closed bud-like appearance throughout the blooming season opening only enough to admit its bee pollinators but once it is pollinated it straightens up and begins to produce fruits (achenes) with long feathery pink styles in a dense head. Clumps of these feathery pink styles are the reason for another of its common names, Pink Plumes. As the seedheads age the 2.5-5cm long styles turn greyish and blow in the wind accounting for another two common names, Prairie Smoke and Old Man's Whiskers. The showy seedheads persist into mid summer. There are 5 or 6 other kinds of Geum species in Manitoba but none as showy or familiar as this one.

2011 Field Trips Report

by John Dyck

1. May 7th - East Braintree - 11 attended - $90. 00

2. May 21st - Birdshill - 10 attended - $120.00

3. May 28th - Hadashville Ski Trail - 12 attended - $150.00

4. June 18th - Woodridge - 17 attended - $285.00

5. June 25th - Brokenhead Wetlands - 17 attended - $285.00

6. July 9th - 5 Corners - 13 attended - $165.00

We had 80 people attend the field trips which brought in $1095.00. An interesting figure was 45 fewer people attending in 2011 and we brought in $5.00 more so it seems we've stayed the course for 2011. The spring of 2011 was a challenging one. The weather seemed to be the topic on all channels and probably affected our lower turnout this year. We only had one field trip that required rain gear and that was Bird's Hill Park. I think if those who attended that field trip were asked they will agree the rain did not deter us from enjoying the Cedar Bog trail. Richard Reeves was the field trip leader and as always is entertaining no matter what the weather is like. The cool and wet weather did set the orchids back about 2 weeks but when they came they seemed to be everywhere. We managed to find over 20 different species in bloom at the 2 Brokenhead field trips that we had.

The Woodridge field trip was again a great success. The Ram's head were in prime and our Field Trip leaders John Neufeld, Richard Reeves and Field Trip botanist Derick Ko Heinrichs said they had never seen such large specimens. There was so much to see that the group was split up so everyone could see all the species on both sides of the road. We had lunch at the Woodridge park and some of us went back to explore all the orchids we saw along the ditches earlier. We even found some very large specimens of the frog orchid - Coeloglossum. We saw many specimens of the large and small yellows and some wonderful patches of showy orchids.

Our much anticipated 5 Corners field trip was moved from June to July due to the passing of Al Ames, a long time NOCI member and husband of Doris, our president. The field trip leaders for that trip decided to attend Al's memorial and after much phoning around to the field trippers it was successfully moved to July. Not knowing what we would find we where pleasantly surprised to find Corallorhiza still in bloom on July 9th. The day was sunny, hot and beautiful. We had a picnic at the Ridge Park and finished the day with some cool watermelon. I would like to thank all the people who joined us on these field trips this year. We had a wonderful group this year and I hope you all enjoyed the trips as much as I did. The wonderful thing about going on these trips is they are always different even though we go to some of the same areas every year. The things in bloom change from year to year and weather can play a big part in what we see. I would especially like to thank the field trip leaders this year. You always make the trips interesting with your knowledge of all the wonderful plants we see. I am already looking forward to 2012 and the new areas we will explore in the coming year.

NOCI Eleventh Annual Members' Night

Members' Night is Friday, October 21, 2011! Our eleventh Members' Night is coming up fast so we hope you can come. Lorne Heshka, past president of the Manitoba Orchid Society, and long-time member of NOCI, will present "Variations on a Theme - the heterogeneity of our native orchids". Lorne has included several new "interesting" photos from Manitoba that he promises will be of interest to a number of people. Get off the couch and bring friends and family out for a good time - there will be displays, door prizes, and as always, fabulous refreshments.

 Friday, October 21st

 7:30 p.m.

 Dakota Lawn Bowling Club

 1212 Dakota Street, Winnipeg