Rare orchid discovered in Vermont

June 17, 2022  |  From the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife

A small whorled pogonia blooms on Winooski Valley Park District conservation land. VT Fish & Wildlife photo courtesy of John Gange

MONTPELIER – Botanists with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department recently announced that they have confirmed the discovery of a rare orchid thought to be extinct in Vermont for a century. 

The small whorled pogonia — not known to be in Vermont since 1902 and listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act — was found on Winooski Valley Park District conservation land in Chittenden County.

“Discovering a viable population of a federally threatened species unknown in our state for over a century is astounding,” said state Botanist Bob Popp. “It’s Vermont’s equivalent of rediscovering the ivory-billed woodpecker.”

The small whorled pogonia is a globally rare orchid historically found across the eastern United States and Ontario. Previous searches for it in Vermont were unsuccessful. As with many orchids, little is understood about the species’ habitat needs. Populations in Maine and New Hampshire are found in areas of partial sun including forest edges and openings, according to the state announcement.

“A challenge of locating rare orchid populations for conservation is that so much of where they grow is determined by things we can’t easily see or measure, like networks of fungi in the soil,” said state Assistant Botanist Aaron Marcus. “These kinds of discoveries are only possible because of the vibrant communities of enthusiasts and professional botanists who work together to understand and document Vermont’s plant diversity.”

Marcus says the department learned of the orchid’s presence in Vermont thanks to observations by two community scientists, John Gange of Shelburne and Tom Doubleday of Colchester.

“John is a passionate and skilled botanist who specializes in orchids and closely follows the sightings people report on the community science app iNaturalist,” Marcus said. “John noticed that birder and retired greenhouse manager Tom Doubleday had used iNaturalist to ask for help identifying an unfamiliar wildflower last July and reached out to us with the news that the small whorled pogonia had very likely just been discovered in Vermont.”

Popp, Marcus, Doubleday, and Gange returned to the site together this spring and confirmed that it indeed was the small whorled pogonia and it was in bloom at the time. 

Because rare orchids are at high risk from illegal collection and accidental trampling by visitors, Doubleday removed the public coordinates from his post on the iNaturalist website. 

The department will work with the Winooski Valley Park District to continue to look for more of the orchid on nearby conservation land with the goal to monitor the population so it might flourish in Vermont’s portion of its native range.

 “We’re incredibly fortunate that this small whorled pogonia population is on land protected by the Winooski Valley Park District,” said Popp. “It speaks to the importance of habitat conservation. When we conserve a piece of land, we rarely know all the species that are there, but we do know that conserving intact natural communities yields the best odds for supporting Vermont’s biodiversity, from common species to rare ones."