June 9-15
One trip only this week and that a bit hurried since we had a grandson and friend with us and had to keep them entertained while trying to take photographs. The weather was not very cooperative either with a lot of rain and cool weather, but we did get so see some of our native orchids.
The first stop was in the Columbia River gorge where we hiked to see the Phantom Orchids, Cephalanthera austiniae, and the Spotted and Vreeland's Coralroots (Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata and Corallorhiza striata var. vreelandii) in bloom.
The Phantom Orchid is the only species of its genus found here in North America. The other species are all Eurasian. It is also the only species in its genus that is mycotrophic, without leaves or chlorophyll, and though quite rare is found in abundance at the site we visited.
In the same area we did find some Vreeland's Coralroots still blooming but most of the Coralroots were finished there. We looked for the Striped Coralroot which we had found there in the past but found none. It has larger and more open flowers than Vreeland's.
We also found in that area two color forms of the Spotted Coralroot, the red-stemmed form, Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata fma. rubra, and the yellow-stemmed form, Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata fma. flavida, the latter quite rare and hard to find.
On our way home we visited a site on east slopes of the Cascades where hundreds of Mountain Lady's Slippers, Cypripedium montanum, are blooming. I had been there several weeks earlier and had found the dark forms blooming, but not the flowers that are more greenish.
8 comments:
Obrigada por compartilhar, sempre compartilhando plantas maravilhosas.
Obrigada
abraços
Thanks once again for your kind comments, my friend. We have grown to love our native orchids as much as the tropical orchids we grow.
I wont get down to the Phantom locationthis year, I am not sure where the Veerlands are, The same place or further west.
And were the Lady slippers where I think they were? Up the mountain road? My goodness I am not remembering THAT many along the road.
I visited a regional park this morning where rare phantom have been spotted. last year there were none found, perhaps I need to pay another visit tomorrow. I spent time on the opposite edge of the parkland this morning. Only got a good shot of a Wilson Warbler to show for it.
The Vreelands can be found both at Dog Mountain and at the Drano Lake location, but they were about finished when we were there. The Dog Mountain trail is a treasure trove of Phantoms and of Coralroots.
Forgot to say that the Mountain Lady's Slippers were in the location you found and they were everywhere there as well as further up the road. I checked the location near Plain for Phantoms earlier and found only one spike.
Jak zwykle piękne
Thank you, my friend.
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