Years ago I was shown a Spiranthes cernua site about a half an hour from home. The site itself was a treeless hillside of perhaps an acre in area, maybe less. Not only was it treeless, there was little other vegetation except Cladonia lichens and Spiranthes - thousands of Spiranthes. You couldn't walk through the area without stepping on them. As I recall, the soil was clayish and seemed to have little organic matter and as mentioned there was very little other vegetation. This hillside sloped at a steep angle down to an impoundment which, to judge from the water plants growing there, had permanent water. I've grown the widely distributed cultivar of Spiranthes cernua called Chadd's Ford. For several years it swarmed over my bog trays, evidently spreading by seed which (this is hard for me to believe but it seems to be what happened) bloomed in the second or third year. Then the year came when there were none. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7 where we're finally getting some good bulb planting weather. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/