Florida's Native and Naturalized Orchids
An educational photographic site dedicated to our natural treasures
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Welcome to FLNativeOrchids.com. This gallery is a labor of love for the orchids growing wild in the state of Florida, primarily native species, but a few naturalized ones may be found here as well.
Click here to head straight to the gallery.
Over 20 years of field observations, driving untold miles and cataloguing native orchid localities across the state, have gone into the making of this website. You will find contained herein a number of photos of Florida's native orchids, including photos of the rare and famous Corkscrew Swamp Ghost Orchid, Dendrophylax lindenii, (dubbed the "Superghost" for the sheer number of flowers - over 20 - produced in a single season). You will also find here an orchid rarer (at least to the state of Florida) than even the ghost orchid.
Florida is host to the largest number of orchid species in the United States, being at a nexus of both temperate and semi-tropical to tropical regions. At the northern end of the state, many terrestrials make their homes, some extending their ranges down into the central and southern parts of the state. Some of these, however, find extreme northern Florida as the southern edge of their range. Several tropical terrestrials, by contrast, find the extreme northern end of their range in the southern tip of the peninsula. A large number of tropical epiphytic orchids make their home in the deep swamps of the Everglades, Big Cypress Swamp, Fakahatchee Strand, and other nearby areas. Two of these epiphytes (Encyclia tampensis and Harrisella porrecta) range quite far into central Florida, while one central Florida epiphyte (Epidendrum magnoliae) ranges northward out of Florida, along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts into neighboring southeastern states.
Four known species of orchid are indigenous to the state of Florida, i.e. they are found nowhere else in the world.
The photos contained in this website are available for purchase as matted art prints, as well as for licensing for publication (both on-line and traditional print publications). We have also produced several calendars, t-shirts, and other merchandise featuring these rare and enchanting beauties.
In addition to photos, you will find links to other sites about native orchids, as well as links to a few commercial vendors that sell cultivated plants of one or more native orchid species.
Please check back frequently as we continue to add new species to our list of photographs (or update the pages on existing species), or you can register to receive our newsletter and update announcements via e-mail by clicking the button below (NOTE: your privacy will be maintained at all times - this information will not be shared with anyone):
No Text or Images from this web site may be used, in whole or in part, without the express permission of the author.
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