![\"Keith](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770923349_91_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nFor the first time since the \u201csuper\u201d ghost orchid was discovered at Audubon Florida\u2019s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary nearly 20 years ago, the plant failed to flower.<\/p>\n
But, no worries, yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that it didn’t bloom last year doesn’t mean too much,\u201d Keith Laakkonen, director of Corkscrew Swamp, said of the flower’s 2025 inactivity. “It’s something we’ll keep an eye on, we’re not really concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laakkonen said the \u201csuper\u201d ghost orchid has not only bloomed every year since it was discovered \u2014 except last \u2014 it has also bloomed multiple times most years. And over the years, it has bloomed during all 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s really hard to predict when these things are going to bloom,\u201d Laakkonen said. \u201cThere’s still a lot we don’t know about the ecology of the species and how it responds to the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the many other occasions Corkscrew\u2019s \u201csuper\u201d ghost orchid has bloomed, it draws folks with “Ghost Orchid Fever” time and again. Admissions spike. People from as far away as Germany fly to Southwest Florida to marvel at it. <\/p>\n
When they arrive it\u2019s to end up staring at the flower barely larger than a man\u2019s hand, high up in a tree, hundreds of feet from the nearest boardwalk, under the dark canopy of the trees. All but the strongest camera lenses and binoculars provide but a blurry white image on dark grey-brown bark.<\/p>\n
Few ghost orchids regularly bloom annually. A healthy plant might bloom one summer, then skip the next two or three years entirely. <\/p>\n
Some plants may go five years or more without flowering. When conditions align \u2014 typically involving adequate rainfall, humidity, and temperature during spring and early summer \u2014 a robust specimen may bloom twice in a single season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Keith Laakkonen, director of Audubon Florida’s\u00a0Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, says the lack of a bloom last year was nothing to be oncerned about<\/p>\n
Think of most ghost orchids as a temperamental model with stage fright. When everything\u2019s perfect \u2014 humidity, temperature, and nutrients \u2013- it spreads its solid white petals for a magical display of its assets. <\/p>\n
A week or two later its corolla \u2014 the formal name for the collection of orchid petals \u2014 starts to yellow, its petals fall off, and all that\u2019s left is a naked clump of roots. The flower then has an orchid version of a hissy fit and tucks back into its much larger host tree to hide until it gets prepared to perform again.<\/p>\n
Ghost orchids where conditions aren\u2019t as adequate may only bloom once every five years. This sporadic pattern is why seeing a ghost orchid in bloom is considered a rare event.<\/p>\n
What happened to Corkscrew\u2019s \u201csuper\u201d ghost orchid last year very possibly belongs to the category of things known to suppress blooming. <\/p>\n
Because ghost orchids need consistent moisture from rainfall, the drought gripping Southwest Florida since this time last year is considered a primary culprit in the non-bloom.<\/p>\n
But \u2014 for the opposite effect \u2014 several times, Corkscrew\u2019s famous “super\u201d ghost orchid has bloomed during every month of the year, or more than a half-dozen times in certain years — that\u2019s super unusual.<\/p>\n
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by\u00a0VoLo\u00a0Foundation<\/a>, a non-profit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sign up for WGCU’s monthly environmental newsletter, the\u00a0Green Flash<\/a>, today.<\/p>\n