orchid | The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History

Large Whorled Pogonia (Isotria verticillata)

Posted on May 30, 2016

Well, it only took Twan three years and several trips to find this beauty flowering, but last week it all paid off: meet the Large Whorled Pogonia (Isotria verticillata), one of the strangest-looking of our native orchids!

Fringed Polygala (Polygala paucifolia)

Posted on May 24, 2016

RTPI President Twan Leenders was looking for native orchids recently in the Allegheny National Forest, but it turned out he was just a little too early for them to bloom. However, he did come across one of his favorite spring ephemerals – Fringed Polygala (Polygala paucifolia) which is somewhat orchid-like in its unusual appearance. Photographed for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History and the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project.

Throwback Thursday-MYN

Posted on Jan 22, 2015

Throwback Thursday! I took this photo of our President, Twan Leenders, photographing a Dragon’s Mouth Orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) this past spring Meet Your Neighbours style. This particular flower is quite a sight as it only exists in very rare habitats and is one of only two species of Arethusa on the planet! It is an imperiled species throughout much of its range and can be easily overlooked due to its small size. As you can see here, it took Twan a bit of contorting to get an eye level view of the flower in order to get the perfect shot. Meet Your Neighbours is an international...

Joel Greenberg

Posted on Jun 11, 2014

Allow me to introduce…Joel Greenberg meet Pink Lady-slipper Orchid, Pink Lady-slipper Orchid meet Joel Greenberg. We were happy to help check one species off author (and Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History bird festival speaker) Joel Greenberg’s wish list this past weekend. It was a fun couple of days and I hope the launch of Project Passenger Pigeon’s documentary will be the start of many more programs on this important topic. Thanks for joining us in Jamestown, Joel!