Large Purple Fringed Orchid

Another orchid of the Northwoods. Orchids are probably the largest family of flowers w/ 20,000 species. Their flowers are so intricate that often there are only certain insects which can pollinate them. Once considered rare and difficult to acquire, orchids have become more plentiful due to cloning - plus there are new hybrids because of human intervention by artificially pollinating across unrelated species. However, I prefer these wild varieties. It's an added bonus that they grow in one of my favorite haunts, the swamp.