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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601592.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601592.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:bold'>New Orchid Smells Like 'Sweaty Feet'</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>By
GARANCE BURKE<br>
The Associated Press<br>
Tuesday, July 17, 2007; 12:53 AM</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>SAN FRANCISCO</span></font></st1:City> -- A
foul-smelling orchid that flourishes only in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Yosemite</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">National Park</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
and was first collected in 1923 is a distinct species, scientists announced
Monday after re-evaluating the flower.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Botanist
Alison Colwell said the species' minute, tennis-ball yellow flowers weren't
what first led her to it, but rather the smell of sweaty feet that the <st1:place
w:st="on">Yosemite</st1:place> bog-orchid emits to attract pollinators.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"I
was out surveying clovers one afternoon, and I started smelling something. I
was like, 'Eew, what's that?'" said Colwell, who works for the U.S.
Geological Survey in El Portal. "It smelled like a horse corral on a hot
afternoon."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
plant, which is the only known orchid species endemic to <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>'s
<st1:place w:st="on">Sierra Nevada</st1:place> range, grows in spring-fed areas
between 6,000 and 9,000 feet, Colwell said. All nine sites where the orchid has
been spotted are in the park, some adjacent to areas popular among visitors,
according to an article announcing the species' discovery published in Madrono,
a journal of the California Botanical Society.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
species isn't likely to have any commercial value since its flowers are less
than a quarter of an inch wide, but some orchid lovers were so enthused by the
news they began planning cross-country trips to see its delicate summer blooms.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"This
orchid might not be showy enough to get the masses lined up all the way from
San Francisco to see it, but I'm leaving Sunday to go out there to photograph
it," said wild orchid expert Paul Martin Brown, who planned to leave
Acton, Maine, this weekend to include the orchid in his latest book.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Colwell,
one of three scientists credited with the discovery, said the bog-orchid is
thought to have persisted in the upland meadows south of <st1:place w:st="on">Yosemite
Valley</st1:place>, which nourished unique plant species because the area
never froze under glacial cover.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>At least
seven other rare plant species have been found there, including the Yosemite
onion, <st1:place w:st="on">Yosemite</st1:place> woolly sunflower and
Bolander's clover.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Park
officials said they would not release details about where the plant was found
because they were concerned visitors might love it to death.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"There's
concern that it will get trampled," said ranger Adrienne Freeman.
"It's a rare and precious resource that we want to protect."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>A
botanist named George Henry Grinnell first collected the Yosemite bog-orchid in
1923 and sent the dried, pressed flower to an herbarium that later gave its collections
to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Rancho</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Santa Ana</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Botanic Garden</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>,
Colwell said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Ron
Coleman, a visiting scientist at the garden, was combing through the collection
one Friday morning in July 1993 when he found the original specimen on a
herbarium sheet ringed with notes handwritten by Grinnell, who believed the
flower was related to the green bog-orchid.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It
was just a little dry brown thing, but right away I saw several things about it
didn't fit the pattern of any other orchid in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>," Coleman said. "This
discovery is not only personally satisfying but scientifically
satisfying."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Coleman
and his colleague Leon Glicenstein drove up to <st1:place w:st="on">Yosemite</st1:place>
the next day and rejoiced when they spotted the flowers in the fading light.
They snapped a photograph and sent it to orchid expert Charles Sheviak, hoping
he would confirm their suspicion that the plant was a unique species.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Sheviak,
curator of Botany at the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">New York</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType>,
concluded the orchid was related to an existent variety that grows in the Rocky
Mountains, but botanists familiar with <st1:place w:st="on">Yosemite</st1:place>
remained curious.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>After
Colwell _ in her first year on the job _ caught a whiff of the flower and was
drawn to it in 2003, she called her boss Peggy Moore. Together, they dug a
plant from the meadow and sent it to Sheviak, who later revised his opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
trio's publication July 3 announcing the Platanthera yosemitensis, the <st1:place
w:st="on">Yosemite</st1:place> bog-orchid's official name, made its status as a
separate species official.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Lovers of
orchids, the largest plant family in nature with some 30,000 species worldwide,
prized the new specimen for its rarity.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"I
am a total student of orchids and I am thrilled to hear about that," said
Paul Gripp, an organizer of the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate's fair, which
wrapped up last weekend. "If it's a new orchid, I love it."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<!-- start the copyright for the articles -->
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>© 2007 The
Associated Press<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<!-- end the copyright for the aricles --><!-- start the copyright for the secions --><!-- end the copyright for the secions -->
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>Jennifer Tsang<br>
<a href="http://coevolution.org">Coevolution Institute</a><br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">423 Washington St.</st1:address></st1:Street>
5th Fl.<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">CA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94111-2339</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><br>
T: 415.362.1137</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>F: 415.362.3070</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'><a
href="http://www.nappc.org">www.nappc.org</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'><a
href="http://www.pollinator.org">www.pollinator.org</a></span></font><font
color="#004000"><span style='color:#004000'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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