Rare orchid that can live for several decades found at Chatfield Farms

DENVER ( KDVR ) — During a friendly competition, two people found a lot more than data when they discovered an undocumented orchid at the Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms.

It all started in late April during a City Nature Challenge . The goal was to collect urban ecology data in the form of a friendly competition — but there wasn’t much competition after a pair noticed a small, peach-colored plant under a log.

According to Chatfield Farms, My-Lan Le, a graduate botany research assistant, and Rebecca Hufft, Ph.D., associate director of applied conservation, found a striped coralroot orchid, formally known as Coralloehiza striata.

This orchid had never been recorded in Chatfield Farms and is rare across the county.

According to Chatfield Farms, the orchid is native to parts of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. They’re rare finds in Colorado, and the only other time the flower was recorded in Jefferson County was in 1905.

According to Chatfield Farms, these orchids don’t photosynthesize. They get nutrients and energy by parasitizing fungi. These orchids don’t have any green parts and can live for several decades.

This discovery was one of many striped coralroot orchids in the area, as several others were hiding under the fallen log.

“This finding is so exciting because even at a location that we have been working at for over 40 years, we still can find something new that has likely been under our noses this whole time,” said Hufft in a press release. “This is a good reminder of how important natural history is and for each of us to keep taking the time to observe nature where we work and live.”

The species has now been documented in public databases.

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