Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis, the Western Fairy Slipper, is always the first of our native orchids to bloom and can be found in bloom in our area for a period of five to six weeks, the bloom season later and later as one moves to higher elevations.  It is a tiny thing, the single flowers only 3 centimeters tall and the plant seldom taller than 15-20 centimeters, and for that reason it is sometimes called "the Hider of the North."  It seems to prefer more open areas in the woodlands and is often found along the trails.  When the sun catches the flowers on the forest floor they glow like tiny jewels.  The variety shown here is found in the Cascade Mountains and the west side of the Rockies and is much more uncommon than the other variety, the Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana, which is readily distinguished by by the yellow beard and is found all across Canada and the northern USA.  In some place in the Pacific Northwest, however, the western variety is very common, and it is the best known of all our native orchids.  There is considerable color variation in this species from pink to a bluish-lavender and some flowers are very pale, almost white.  However, the flowers turn white or tan as they fade and it is difficult to distinguish the paler forms from flowers that are going by.  To complicate matters further, there is a white variety but none of the flowers shown here are that variety.

 April 7

April 11

April 14

April 21 and 22

April 25

May 3

May 9
(very nearly finished at lower elevations)

May 31
(still hanging on at mid elevations)

Note: I am only going to do one post for each of our native orchids this season and so will be adding to this post from time to time.

The End of Another Season (2013)

The 2013 native orchid season was very unusual in some ways.  It began very early with a warm wet spring and ended very early with a warm dry summer.  It was good orchid-hunting season for us in our own state, however, with one variety, two species and one natural hybrid seen in Washington for the first time, along with several new locations found for the all-white form of the Western Fairy Slipper and with our first look at the unspotted form of the Western Spotted Coralroot.

On a trip to Canada we saw two new species that we had not seen before, as well as a new variety of the Small Round-leaf Orchis, a very common northern species that is not found in Washington.  All of these are very rare and elusive and we are very thankful to a friend, Ben Rostron, for trusting us enough to take us to see them in their closely guarded locations.  This trip was the high point of the orchid season for us and we hope to make the trip again next year.

The two species that we had not seen before in Washington were Cypripedium parviflorum and the elusive and tiny Platanthera chorisiana.  The former is very rare in Washington and the latter rare throughout its range.  We also saw the natural hybrid of Cypripedium parviflorum and Cypripedium montanum, Cypripedium x columbianum.  Though we had seen this hybrid before we were delighted to find it growing in a mixed population that included both parents.

We also saw for the first time in Washington, the Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana.  We had seen this species in British Columbia but not in our state.  In the location where we found it we looked for the natural hybrid of the two varieties of Fairy Slippers, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae, but could not find it, another task for next season.  The Eastern Fairy Slipper is notable for its yellow beard and unspotted central lip lobe.

The new species seen in Canada were Liparis loeslii, the Fen Orchis and Malaxis brachypoda, the White Adder's Mouth.  Both of these are rather insignificant and would probably pass unnoticed to the casual observer, but we were delighted to see them for their rarity.  We also saw on this trip Amerorchis rotundifolia fma. lineata, the striped-lip form of the common Small Round-leaf Orchis.  This form is in our opinion even more beautiful than the ordinary form.

We had seen the white form of the Western Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa fma. nivea, once before, but we discovered this spring that that plant had been dug up and stolen.  We found several more locations for it, however, and are keeping the location a closely-guarded secret.  We also found a near-white form with only hints of color, what would probably be called a semi-alba form in the orchid world.  That location, too, we are keeping secret or sharing only with those we trust.

Finally, we were taken by another friend to see the yellow, unspotted form of the Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. immaculata, a spectacular plant whose location will also remain undisclosed.  These, with new locations for many other species, with visits to many locations that we had visited before, and with all the other natural beauties we see on these excursions, made for a very profitable and interesting season.

One note: we found through a friend that one species reported from the Pacific Northwest, Wister's Coralroot, Corallorhiza wisteriana is not actually found there.  The original location, so we were informed, was in a garden where it had been transplanted from further east.  That leaves only two species from Washington that we have not seen, Listera convallarioides, the Broad-lipped Twayblade, and Spiranthes diluvialis, the Ute Ladies-tresses.