Having information from a friend who found the species there (he was along on the excursion) we visited Dry Falls State Park in central Washington to see Epipactis gigantea, the Stream Ochid. Reputed to be rare in the state there were thousands of plants at two locations in the park, and though the flowers were just beginning to open we were able to get enough photos to prove that we had seen the species there.
Epipactis gigantea is an attractive species, always growing near water and often on the very edge of streams and lakes. That was the case here also. Sometimes the flowers are rather dull-colored but often they are the opposite, as the photos demonstrate. It is also a rather large plant as native orchids go, and it is surprising that with its size and the number of plants it had not been previously reported from this location.
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