Orchid

Last summer I was surprised to find a leopard marsh orchid (a.k.a.

European marsh orchid & southern marsh orchid) here in the city, and

wildly blooming. I talked with various botanists and natural

historians who said the species was -- until a decade or two ago --

more or less unknown here, but that it was found in the 1990s and has

been spreading. So this year I've been on the look-out for it. I've

seen several plants and now, early July, they have started blooming.

This was this afternoon on a weedy patch of lawn on the university campus.