Twenty-sixth Orchid of the Season and Others

The orchid featured in this post is the Alaskan Piperia, not a common orchid in our area, and in this case a rare dwarf form of the species, Platanthera or Piperia unalascensis fma. olympica.  The species can be as tall as 90 cm but in these are less than 30 cm and are found, as far as I know, only in one location, the top of Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

Platanthera unalascensis var. olympica

We caught them at the very end of their blooming season, though that was very early this year due our early spring and very hot, dry summer.  Most of them, especially those in exposed areas, were finished, but there were a few in more sheltered areas that were still in good form.  We did not find any sign of the normal form of the species, however, at lower elevations.

Along with this species we saw a number of others in the Olympics which we had seen earlier in the year and elsewhere.  These were seen further west of Hurricane Ridge and included two other Platantheras, the Elegant Piperia, Platanthera elegans, and the Long-spurred Piperia, Platanthera elongata, and the Stream Orchid, Epipactis gigantea, which was almost finished blooming, though very early.

Platantherra elegans

Platanthera elongata

It should be noted that all the Piperias have recently been reclassified as Platantheras, so these species are now Platanthera unalascensis, Platanthera elegans and Platanthera elongata.  These species were all originally classified as Platantheras or Habenarias, but were moved to a new genus in 1901.  There is still a great deal of disagreement about their classification.