Irrigation, ranching, and the mysterious resilience of a threatened orchid

Orchids are celebrities in the plant world – often glitzy, occasionally spectacular, but also often fragile or fickle. The rare terrestrial orchid Spiranthes diluvialis may seem rather dowdy compared to its showy tropical relatives, but it has a mercurial nature of its own. After years spent observing the wildly fluctuating flowering of a protected S. diluvialis population in northern Utah, I’m still not really sure how to gauge its annual mood. But despite its apparent fragility, and evidence that Spiranthes populations continentwide are threatened by development, this particular orchid seems to enjoy sharing its space with agriculture.