I had two parts to this essay. I was supposed to write about 5 invasive plants and 5 endangered plants. I had a source for each topic. However, the invasive plants source (https://plants.usda.gov) does not give any results for my current location and so I can’t write the first part of my essay. Unfortunately, my second source (https://ecos.fws.gov) only gave one plant for my county, and although there were also some animals, I think my teacher wants me to search for plants (this being the plant science section and all) so I’m going to give a short report of the Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid.
Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid
Taxonomy:
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Orchidoideae |
| Genus: | Platanthera |
| Species: | P. leucophaea |
| Common Name: | Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid |
The Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid is currently listed as threatened because farmers will let their herds graze in a field with the flowers. Wheat and other crops can also choke the plant. Interestingly, fire and rain (not at the same time) can actually help the plant to reproduce, so with little to no prairie fires, the flowers are not growing as well.