Angela, Barbara Ann, Joe, David and Janet kept spotting a new one, in Adams County, Ohio, just miles from the Kentucky Border. That June 2017 trip, about 6 days long, delivered, as we used to say, ‘Big time.’

Never a drinker, or a smoker, and despite the skepticism of some, there were zero (no, nada, zilch!) drugs or Mary Jane in Samuel J. Tilden High School back then. That’s 5,200 students. Me? I have always gotten my ‘rush’ from unscheduled sightings of never before seen butterflies, wildlife and botany. Lately it’s been orchids.

I remember Angela spotting this rare flower on a trail in Lynx Prairie Preserve, also in the Adams County. If memory serves, she and others had seen this Ascelpias (milkweed) before, but for sure they said it is difficult to find, and is never found in any numbers.

I stared at it as if it was one you’d expect to see, maybe on Mars? My field guides are still in boxes, so the name eludes me. The name, no? Recollecting when we met it? Yes, for sure. Angela? Barbara Ann? David? Phil? Whatdoyouthink?

I really, really enjoy such wildly fascinating plants, and count myself, happily, amongst the 1.4% or make that the 0.026% of Americans who have seen such starkly beautiful living things that I have been so fortunate to see.

I wonder if that 0.026% figure is appropriate too for Vancouver Island, Frewsburg, New York, Sri Lanka,  Whidbey Island, Washington, Poland, Hamilton, Canada and Latvia?

Jeff