Orchid Hunting in the Cascades

 

We made a long trip through Washington, Oregon and northern California recently, and spent some time orchid hunting.  We looked for and found seven orchids in Washington, Epipactis gigantea, the Stream Orchid or Chatterbox, so named for its love of lake and stream sides and for its hinged lip, which moves in the breeze, and Cypripedium montanum, the Mountain Lady's Slipper.  The Epipactis, though rare in Washington, we found by the thousands in the location we visited.  The Lady's Slipper was also abundant and we found both the very dark form with the purple-stained lip (fma. welchii) and the albino form (fma. praetertinctum).  In the same place we found the Mountain Lady's Slippers we also found Platanthera unalascensis, the Alaskan Piperia.  At a third location we found Platanthera dilatata, the Bog Candle, and at a fifth location Cephalanthera austiniae, the Phantom Orchid and Corallorhiza maculata, the Spotted Coralroot, both red-stemmed and yellow stemmed varieties, along with a few stems of Corallorhiza striata, the striped Coralroot, both the ordinary variety and the smaller-flowered var. vreedlandii.

Epipactis gigantea

Stream Orchid

Cypripedium montanum

Mountain Lady's Slipper

Cypripedium montanum fma. welchii

Mountain Lady's Slipper, purple-marked lip

 

Cypripedium montanum fma. praetertinctum

Mountain Lady's Slipper, albino form

 

 

 

 

Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata

 Bog Candle

 

Platanthera unalascensis
Alaskan Piperia

 

Cephalanthera austiniae
Phantom Orchid

Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata
Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata fma. flavida

Spotted Coralroot, yellow-stemmed form

 

 

Corallorhiza striata var. striata
Striped Coralroot

and

Corallorhiza striata var. vreelandii

Vreeland's Coralroot

 

Orchids at Annette Lake

Our final orchid trip for the year was Annette Lake where we stopped to look for Platanthera orbiculata, the Pad-leaved Orchis.  Annette Lake is one of the few locations we know for this striking orchid.  We found a few plants, fewer than we had seen on previous visits and those we saw were not yet in bloom.  We also saw a few other orchids.

Platanthera orbiculata (Pad-leaved Orchis

Corallorhiza mertensiana (Western Coralroot)

 

 Neottia banksiana (Northwestern Twayblade)

 

Neottia cordata var. nephrophylla (Heart-leaved Twayblade)

Platanthera stricta (Slender Bog Orchid)

Another Orchid-hunting Trip

 

I went on a two-day orchid hunting trip and visited nine different locations.  I found orchids at all but two of the locations and it was very late in the season for the orchid I expected to find there.  These are the results of that two-day search for our native orchids.

At the first location I found the Eastern Fairy Slipper and its natural hybrid with the Western Fairy Slipper, Kostiuk's Hybrid Fairy Slipper.  The Fairy Slippers were very sparse this year and the area they were in had suffered from a windstorm that left numerous blowdowns and blocked trails.

Calypso bulbosa var. americana

Eastern Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae

Kostiuk's Hybrid Fairy Slipper

 

At the second location that had orchids I checked on a mixed population of Lady's Slippers.  There are that resemble the Mountain Lady's Slipper, flowers that resemble the  Northern Yellow Lady's Slipper and flowers that are clearly hybrids of the two in that population.

Cypripedium x columbianum

Columbia Hybrid Lady's Slipper

flowers that resemble Cypripedium montanum, the Mountain Lady's Slipper

flowers that resemble Cypripedium parviflorum, the Northern Yellow Lady's Slipper

flowers that are clearly hybrids of the two

 

At the third location I found the Mountain Lady's Slipper and the Spotted Coralroot.  The Spotted Coralroots were all the round-lipped variety, but included numerous yellow-stemmed plants.  This usually rare form is more numerous than the normal form in this location.

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidenttalis

Western Spotted Coralroot

 

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. aurea

Western Spotted Coralroot - gold-stemmed form

Cypripedium montanum

Mountain Lady's Slipper

 

At a fourth location there was another orchid I looked for but didn't find.  I did find more Western Spotted Coralroot, though far fewer than previous years.  The weather has been unusual and the Coralroots especially seem to have been affected, with fewer plants everywhere.

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis

Western Spotted Coralroot

 

At a fifth location with orchids I found a few Mountain Lady's Slippers.  I also looked for Coralroots there and found none and for a small rare Lady's Slipper but did not find it, either.  The Mountain Lady's Slippers were at the peak of their bloom at this lower elevation, not the case higher up.

Cypripedium montanum

Mountain Lady's Slipper

 

The other locations were also place where I looked for the Mountain Lady's Slipper and found it, though at the higher elevations they were just starting to bloom.  I also found plants of the albino form, green and white instead of mahogany and white.  They were not fully open, however.

Cypripedium montanum

Mountain Lady's Slipper

 

Cypripedium montanum fma. praetertinctum

Mountain Lady's Slipper, albino form