Spiranthes sp, maybe lacera or spiralis?

Thank you and that was amazing speed! I love this site. My bro also just found it too on a native wildflower site. This is a very exciting plant!!!!

your plant ID was not quite as interesting as you stimulating me to figure out the derivation of sam hill.. lol ... thx for that ... especially the MI surveyor story ...

ken

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Hill_%28euphemism%29

LOL Ken! I never knew the meaning of it, it's just an old Southern term that I never hear anymore but used to hear. I used it so that the post would have a catchy title and thereby get more attention. :-) The wiki link is hilarious, I had no idea it had so many possible origins. And I hear you on wanting to figure out the derivation - the availability of the internet now makes us a lot more curious than we used to be when we had to go to libraries and look stuff up.

You'll enjoy this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpoiPGFPhaA

I only know the phrase from the Looney Tunes character Foghorn Leghorn.

Here on the West Coast, many Southernisms seem cartoonish.

Ha ha ha, that's funny that it's used in Looney Tunes! It's pretty much a vintage term I think.

:-) Tarnation! I haven't heard that one in a long time either! As I've thought about it, I think I actually must have first heard both of them as a child on the cartoons

foghorn or yosemite sam ... maybe both....

good one purp tiff ... but.. what old barn ... lol

ken

Ken, all directions in the south involve turning at some point "where something used to be."

yeah .... i suppose.. the old hoot owl trail ... maybe a bent tree here and there ... lol

ken

https://www.thehootowltree.com/

The South is fun b/c it's quirky :-)

ken, here's a marker tree (white oak) near me in southern PA.

Or how 'bout this one (source unknown).

that's way cool! and there you go, some fun landmarks not even in the south! I live in northern Virginia which is a blend of south and north, very interesting. it's all infrastructure here and any remaining natural landmarks that are not in parks or protected areas will eventually be gobbled up by hardscape.

i was fascinated with those marker trees ... but the only suspicion i could come to.. was that in my MI ... that is what winter and ice storms causes.. in the forest ... lol ... i mean.. when the injury or manipulation happened.. they were very small trees .. no canopy to protect them from the weight of ice ...

ken

Interesting