The plant is almost always found in shaded areas, often along trails and openings in the woodlands where its bright pink color stands out and is easily seen, even though the plant and flower are very small, the plant usually about 20 cm or less and the flowers about 3 cm.
There are some variations, but the plant is usually single flowered and usually has a single leaf that persists after the flower is finished. It is relatively common in our area and we have almost always found it when hiking in the spring in the North Cascades.
Its common name is Hider-of-the-North, a very appropriate name because of its small size and also because it is usually found as a single plant and flower, though when it is happy it will often form large stands, but these are vulnerable to changes in the habitat.
There are actually four varieties of this orchid, one variety found only in Japan and another found across northern Eurasia. The other two are found in North America, varieties americana and occidentalis, both of them shown below and distinguished by the color of the "beard."
Calypso bulbosa var. americana, the Eastern Fairy Slipper, is the more common variety and the only variety found east of the Rocky Mountains. It is easily distinguished by its yellow beard and white lip and is the more brightly colored of the two North American varieties.
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10 comments:
Fantastic collection of Calypso photos, Ron! Very clear description of the two C. bulbosa varieties found in the U.S. I've always thought that the yellow-lipped form must just be some type of variation that I've not seen. Now I know.
Thanks!
Interesting, isn't it, how plants vary geographically? There is also a third variety that is found in Japan!
Spotted two of these in the Mission Tribal Wilderness of Montana. The low foothill canyons are interior temperate rainforest.
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I thought yours would be the Eastern Fairy Slipper with the yellow on the lip but it isn't. It's the Western variety. Nice find.
I want to know what the role of it is in the Taiga! Otherwise, I liked it.
Thanks for the comments.
I know there are white and yellow forms of CABU (N. CA). I have also seen a spotless form. Have you encountered these forms?
I have seen CABU in open flat areas along cliffs in the Kootenai River basin near Libby, MT.; coastal rainforests of Bella Coola, CAN; along roadsides in open deciduous forests near Cave Junction, OR.; in the Blue Mountains of WA., where Engelmann spruce forests create dark environs for expansive moss covered ground (CYMO also grew near in pine needles under PIPO forests); near Port Angeles, WA., growing on grassy road cutbanks in old growth Doug fir forests; near my home growing on a salal covered cat road under second growth DF, Belfair, WA; and near Trout Lake, WA., where it grew in a small park on red-colored crumbly rotten logs.
I don't know of any yellow forms, unless you are referring to the white form with its yellow beard. The white form, which is also spotless I've seen numerous times: http://nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2014/04/calypso-bulbosa-var-occidentalis-fma.html.
We, too, have seen the species in many different places, from Mount Robson Provincial Park in the north to California in the south and from coastal Washington and Oregon to Colorado, Montana and Idaho. East of the Cascades you will see variety americana with a yellow beard and and mahogany spotted mid-lobe of the lip. West of the Cascades you'll see variety occidentalis with a white beard and an unspotted mid-lobe.
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