Here's some more specimens from Uruguay to identify. I wonder if the orchid is a Skeptrostachys paraguayensis. The shape of the flowers seems to match, but the plant is much smaller (15 cm tall). I'm growing it at home and it seems to be thriving! What I've noticed is that as soon as it yielded the spike it began to lose its leaves.
Thanks for your promt reply! So Prunella doesn't seem to be a native species for all the members of the genus come from the North hemisphere.
You could be right about the orchid. I've never heard of that one before. So, you dug it up and are growing it at home? Perhaps it would grow taller in it's native habitat. Maybe the leaf drop is a transplant shock, or maybe it's not in the right conditions to keep the leaves, or maybe that is the time when it naturally drops it's leaves. It doesn't look like an evergreen plant, or is it?
Yes, apparently this species tends to lose its foliage at this time of the year. I usually check on the specimens that grow on a sidewalk near my place and all of them exhibit the same traits (except for the fact that they are mowed on a regular basis so they lack the flower spike!)
Well, if you don't like Prunellas, you can send them back to me! :))) I like them, because they are native here! :)
I wish I could... Many plants including Prunellas have escaped cultivation and become noxious invaders. The same's happening with our South American species in North America. The only good thing about it is that some of these exotic plants are now extinct or on the verge of extinction in their own habitats!
