May 27th Secret Location

Man Orchid

The man orchid is perhaps the rarest of Norfolk's orchids and one that I have been anticipating the most since creating my list. So when I heard that they were now in bloom and that they don't stay in flower for more than a couple of days, I had to go see them as soon as possible. In Norfolk, there is only one site to see them and as they are so rare, I can not tell you where I went today to see them in order to protect them from collectors.

Just like the military orchid that I saw yesterday, the man orchid is another one of those orchids that you have to use your imagination to see the figures that give the species its name. As with the military orchid, the sepals form a hood or the man's 'head' or 'hat', while the lip forms the man's 'body', 'arms' and 'legs'. The flowers are yellow and sometimes have a red edge to them and can form a tall spike of up to 50 'little men' attached to it.








The weather was not always on our side as my dad and I went searching for my latest target. It was raining on and off while we were at this one and only site, but when we eventually found one, even the rain couldn't dampen my excitement. We ended up finding maybe about ten of them. They varied in sizes and were already starting to pass wilt away. However, we did manage to find one that was really spectacular and in perfect condition with a large spike covered in around 40 to 50 flowers. When I found this amazing specimen, I didn't care less that it was raining or not. Two extremely rare orchids in two days. It has been a great bank holiday weekend.