Botanical atlas

Pine Pink

Bletia purpurea

Pine pink has never been one of the great herbal remedies of the Americas; it belongs instead to the quieter tradition of the wildflower admired rather than gathered. Naturalists in the pine barrens of Florida and the Caribbean have long noted its habit of blooming in cheerful, unexpected flushes after a fire has swept through the understory, a trait that made it a small, hopeful marker of land renewing itself. Native plant gardeners and orchid collectors have carried that same appreciation into cultivated beds, prizing it as one of the few terrestrial orchids that will actually thrive in an open, sunny garden rather than a shaded greenhouse. Its scientific name honors Luis Blet, an eighteenth century Spanish apothecary, though the plant itself was never a staple of his trade.

Safety.

This orchid has no tradition of food or medicinal use and should not be eaten or brewed. Like most wild orchids it is protected under international trade rules, so buy nursery-propagated plants rather than collecting from the wild.