May19-25
Managed to get out twice this week, once to Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands and once to several places in the Bellingham area. The Coralroots are at their peak and I saw three species that can be found locally, the Western Spotted Coralroot,
Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis, in several different color forms, the Western Coralroot,
Corallorhiza mertensiana, in a rainbow of colors (please note all the different stem and flower colors), but all the form that Paul MartinBrown calls
fma. pallida, and the Striped Coralroot,
Corallorhiza striata var. striata in a rather pale color form. I found a few Western Fairy Slippers,
Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis, and took pictures of one, but they are nearly finished at these lower elevations, though in the mountains they are either at their peak or have not even started to bloom yet.
Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis
Western Spotted Coralroot
with a stem holding last year's seed-pods
Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. intermedia
Western Spotted Coralroot (brown-stemmed form)
Corallorhiza mertensiana fma. pallida
Western Coralroot (pale form)
with old stem holding last year's seed-pods
Corallorhiza striata var. striata
Striped Coralroot
Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis
Western Fairy Slipper