small thing

Another little rain on a cool cloud-veiled day… secret moist spaces tucked away enjoy these gifts from the sky.  Thickets, springs, swamps… in these untrammeled pockets where water hangs on, small treasures bask in the shade and dance with gnats that unaware, take on a squirt of pollen-loaded liquid to their backs as they do-si-do into minute triggers on the stigmas.  

Though these plants usually form extensive colonies, Listera convallarioides, also known as the ‘Broad-lipped twayblade’, is one of the least known of the orchids.  That they are elusive and rarely encountered is not surprising when one sees how small and inconspicuous they are, blending with other green vegetation in hidden cool areas. Once the dust-like seeds mature and disperse, if they find their situation hospitable, they grow underground for several years before rising above the ground to produce leaves and engage in photosynthesis.   

The genus Listera is named for the noted seventeenth century English physician and naturalist Martin Lister.  The specific epithet ‘convallarioides’ is from the Latin meaning "Convallaria-like," because the leaves of Listera convallarioides resembled those of the genus Convallaria, the Lily-of-the-Valley.     ~ Mary

Listera convallarioides

From my Native Orchids of North America series – this is an original relief print ~ 6” x 11” ~ printed from multiple hand-cut linoleum blocks, and signed as a numbered edition of 100.  Made using archival ink on Okawara MM neutral pH paper and printed on a Whelan Pro Press at Green Ink Gallery & Studios in the Black Hills near Nemo, South Dakota.

Artist and amateur botanist, Mary Wipf lives and works in the Black Hills of South Dakota creating drawings, collages, fine marbled papers and silks, and original prints.

All materials and pigments used meet the highest archival standards.

Green Ink Gallery & Studios • by appointment

605 342-2552 • http://www.greeninkgalleryandstudios.com/

Mary Wipf & Mark Zimmerman – artists:

paintings, drawings, original prints, and fine marbled silks & papers

View more posts from the orchid series...

Corallorhiza maculata:  http://greeninkseen.blogspot.com/2010/12/thing-of-beauty.html

Cypripedium parviflorum: http://greeninkseen.blogspot.com/2011/12/amazing-thing.html

Calypso bulbosa: http://greeninkseen.blogspot.com/2014/12/it-takes-forest.html

Listera convallarioides: http://greeninkseen.blogspot.com/2012/06/small-thing.html