The Indian Pipe wildflowers are blooming and gorgeous here on Cape Cod. Lacking chlorophyll which results in being totally white, they are a very unique wildflower. I’ve seen many of them over the years growing in our wooded yard.
“The entire plant is a translucent, “ghostly” white, sometimes pale pinkish-white and commonly has black flecks. The leaves are scale-like and flecked with black on the flower stalk. As the Latin epithet uniflora implies, the stem bears a single flower. Upon emerging from the ground, the flower is pendant (downwardly pointed).”
The trails are lush here on Cape Cod, with lots of pretty wildflowers growing along side of them. This was such a pretty hike on the Nauset Marsh Trail by the Salt Pond. One of my favorites!
We were hiking along the Nauset Marsh Trail when we saw this flicker of something shining on one of the tall reeds by the side of the trail. It looked like a dragonfly so we clicked away. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
It is a Halloween Pennant Dragonfly which is a brightly colored dragonfly that lives in the eastern United States. It gets its name from its orange colored wings which have dark brown bands marking them. It is often seen perched on tips of vegetation near the edges of a waterway, which is exactly where we saw it.
What an treat and a first for us! Have you ever seen a Halloween Pennant Dragonfly?
