Seventeenth Orchid of the Season

A very common species in the Pacific Northwest, the Green Bog Orchis, Platanthera huronensis, is also rather uninspiring.  It is not always easy to identify, intergrading into several other species, but the following are diagnostic: a whitish-green color, a lip that has a dilated or narrowed base, a spur that is not distinctly inflated, is equal in length to the lip and does not curve strongly forward, with anther sacs toward the top of the flower and almost parallel.  We saw this species in several different locations in Alaska when we were there recently and finally stopped to photograph it along the Richardson Highway between Glennallen and Valdez.  The plants were 24-30 cm tall and were growing with Platanthera aquilonis, the Northern Green Bog Orchis, and Cypripedium passerinum, the Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper.

Sixteenth Orchid of the Season

This is another species reputed to grow in Washington but which we have not seen in the state and which, if it grows there, must be very rare in the state.  It is, however, very common further north.  While in Alaska we found a few plants in Kenai Fjords National Park along the Harding Icefields trail, very small examples of the species which can grow to several feet (60 cm).  There is a dwarf variety of the species but these are not that variety.  These are the much more common variety, var. virescens.  I learned the species as Coeloglossum viride var. virescens and it can be found in the literature under that name but it has recently been reclassified as Dactylorhiza viride var. virescens.  The species is known as the Long-bracted Green Orchis or the Frog Orchid, the latter in reference to the lip which resembles the back legs of a jumping frog.

Fifteenth Orchid of the Season

This species is reputed to grow in Washington, in the northern counties east of the Cascades, but it is at the southern limit of its range there and we have not seen it in the state though we continue to look for it.  These were photographed in Alaska on a recent vacation trip there.  We saw them in several different locations in Kenai Fjords National Park and Denali National Park.  The species is small, less than a foot (30 cm) tall with whitish-green flowers.  It is easily recognizable by its single leaf at the base of the plant and it's rather oddly shaped flowers, which, though rather inconspicuous, are quite beautiful when observed closely.

Fourteenth Orchid of the Season

Platanthera stricta, the Slender Bog Orchis, is probably the most common orchid species in the Pacific Northwest and also the least attractive.  The plants can be over 100 cm tall with many flowers, but the flowers are small and green.  We find it in the ditches along the roads, sometimes in the thousands and very often do not stop to photograph them.  These were the first of the season and were photographed along the Spaudling Trail near Juneau.  There, too, they were in a wet meadow and seemed to be everywhere.  The species is readily identifiable by its long narrow lip and inflated spur, which sometimes looks like a tube with a ball on the end.

Thirteenth Orchid of the Season

One of our ferry stops on the way to Alaska was in Juneau where we were delayed for over eight hours.  We used the time to hike the Spaulding trail and the Auke Nu trail just south of the ferry terminal and found two native orchids along the trail, the Green Bog Orchis, Platanthera huronensis, featured in another post, and the Tall White Northern Bog Orchis, Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata.  The latter species grows all over the Pacific Northwest but is always a treat to see.  It is also strongly scented and is a delight for that reason also.  There are three varieties of this species distinguished by the length of the spur.  This variety has a spur that equals the length of the lip.  This was our first sighting of the species but we expect to see many more of them before the summer is over and hope to see the other varieties as well.

Twelfth Orchid of the Season

We made a brief stop recently in north-central Washington to see a patch of the Columbia Hybrid Lady's Slippers, Cypripedium x columbianum, a natural hybrid of the Mountain Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium montanum and the Yellow Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens.  In this hybrid population, which grows mixed together, there are flowers that look like both parents, with either a yellow or white lip, as well as flowers that are clearly intermediate between the parents, the lips a soft yellow or off-white color.  When we visited this patch, it was obvious that it had not been a very good year with fewer than normal plants and we also found most of them finished, though we did take enough photos for a blog post.

Cypripedium x columbianum