[PCA] Fw: NEWS: USGS Botanists Help Identify a New Orchid Species, the Yosemite Bog-Orchid

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

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News Release






July 16, 2007 
Peggy Moore 
(209) 379-1309 
peggy_moore at usgs.gov 

Adrienne Freeman 
(209) 372-0529 
adrienne_freeman at nps.gov 

Joanne Guilmette 
(518) 474-8730 
jguilmet at mail.nysed.gov





USGS Botanists Help Identify a New Orchid, the Yosemite Bog-Orchid


An orchid so elusive, 70 years elapsed after George Henry Grinnell 
collected the first specimens in 1923 before a new generation of botanists 
rediscovered its location in 1993. But the plant’s identity remained a 
challenge to taxonomists. Now, two U.S. Geological Survey botanists and a 
colleague at the New York State Museum have identified the orchid as a new 
species, the Yosemite bog-orchid (Platanthera yosemitensis), according to 
a recent publication in the journal of the California Botanical Society, 
Madroño. 
“The Yosemite bog-orchid is an example of how both historic and 
contemporary plant specimens can serve to inform scientists and managers 
about the biological diversity of natural reserves,” said Peggy Moore, a 
USGS plant ecologist in El Portal, Calif., and one of the botanists who 
identified the orchid. 
A botanical mystery sparked work by Moore and fellow USGS botanist Alison 
Colwell – they had noticed the anomalous distribution in the plant guide 
Flora of North America of a southern Rockies bog-orchid that was also 
reported from Yosemite National Park in California. Colwell and Moore are 
scientists and co-workers with the USGS Western Ecological Research Center 
and both are conducting research to support the science needs of the 
National Park Service. 
Beginning in 2003, and building on the efforts of previous botanists 
involved in the search for this mysterious orchid, Colwell and Moore 
relocated the site where others had collected the orchid, mapped 
additional sites where they discovered it growing, and searched several 
plant collections (herbaria) to examine bog-orchid specimens. Then, in 
consultation with Dr. Charles Sheviak, Curator of Botany at the New York 
State Museum, they determined the orchid was a new, undescribed species. 
“This group of orchids constitutes a notoriously complex problem, and it’s 
only now after nearly 2 centuries of study that we are beginning to 
understand what the species are,” said Sheviak, an authority on the group. 
“I’ve been studying it for 40 years and have described other new species 
of Platanthera, so I’m used to being surprised. However, to find such a 
strikingly distinctive plant in such a well-known locality is truly 
astonishing. The fact that it appears to be confined to such a small 
geographic area is furthermore unique among related species.” 
Yosemite bog-orchid is known currently from only nine sites within 
Yosemite National Park, all on the granitic upland south of Yosemite 
Valley, between the main stem and the South Fork of the Merced River. As 
the orchid’s range is understood currently, it is the only orchid species 
endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California. 
“The extreme small size of several of the populations puts them at risk of 
extirpation,” said Dr. Niki Nicholas, Chief of Resources Management and 
Science at Yosemite. “Sensitive habitat as well as a delicate root system 
highlights conservation issues associated with this species.” 
With an inconspicuous wand-like growth form and tiny flowers, the plant 
can be easy to miss in meadows densely crowded with a wide variety of 
plants, including other kinds of bog-orchids. Taxonomists use several 
technical features to help distinguish Yosemite bog-orchid from other 
bog-orchids, including what a discerning nose might call its bouquet. 
Yosemite bog-orchids have a strong musk component that, according to the 
authors, has been likened by various observers to a “corral of horses, 
asafetida, strong cheese, human feet, sweaty clothing, or simply 
disagreeable.”  The Yosemite bog-orchid may use this scent to attract 
mosquitoes or flies for pollination purposes. 
Yosemite bog-orchid also keeps company with other endemics in the upland 
area south of Yosemite Valley, the authors noted. This area, largely free 
of ice during the most recent glacial events in the last two million 
years, contains at least seven species of plants known only from the 
central and southern Sierra Nevada. These include Yosemite onion, Yosemite 
woolly sunflower, short-leaved hulsea, Yosemite ivesia, and Bolander’s 
clover. 
“What a delight to find that, in the 21st century, such gems await 
discovery, or, in this case, re-discovery, practically in our own 
backyard,” said Colwell, a USGS botanist in El Portal, Calif. “Doubtless 
more such finds await us.” 
This work was made possible by the National Park Service Inventory and 
Monitoring Program. 


Note to News Editors
Reproducible images for this news release can be downloaded by clicking 
the thumbnail images below or visiting our image preview gallery which 
contains four images for this release. 
Link to image gallery: 
online.wr.usgs.gov/ocw/htmlmail/p_yosemitensis/images.html 

Charles Sheviak, an authority on the Platanthera group of orchids, making 
a site visit in Yosemite National Park
Photo by Alison Colwell, USGS

Botanists Dena Grossenbacher and Alison Colwell surveying appropriate 
habitat for the new Yosemite bog-orchid.
Photo by Peggy Moore, USGS

Alison Colwell, Botanist with the USGS, and Angela Sanders, Resources 
Associate with Student Conservation Association, taking the measure of the 
new Yosemite bog-orchid.
Photo by Alison Colwell, USGS

The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the American 
people so that all may experience our heritage. 
The New York State Museum in Albany, N.Y. is a cultural program of the New 
York State Education Department. Founded in 1836, the museum has the 
longest continuously operating state natural history research and 
collection survey in the U.S. Further information can be obtained by 
calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at 
www.nysm.nysed.gov.



USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit 
www.usgs.gov. 
Subscribe to USGS News Releases via our electronic mailing list or RSS 
feed. 
**** www.usgs.gov ****





Catherine Puckett 
USGS Office of Communications
2201 NW 40th Terrace
Gainesville, FL 32605-3574
OFFICE PHONE: 352-264-3532
CELL PHONE: 352-275-2639
FAX: 352-374-8080
EMAIL: cpuckett at usgs.gov
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