Two Orchids at Baker Lake

 

In July we went on an overnight backpacking trip with our oldest daughter to Baker Lake in western Washington.  It was a very wet trip and was not meant to be an orchid-hunting trip but we did find two orchids, Corallorhiza mertensiana, the Western Coralroot, shown above and below, and Neottia cordata var. nephrophylla, the Western Heart-leaved Twayblade, shown at bottom.

Orchids on Fidalgo Island

 

Because of the covid outbreak were not able to visit many of our favorite orchid hunting location this year.  Most of the state parks and national forests were closed until late in the summer and the city parks also.  We had to do most of our hiking in areas where there were no orchids and that were close to home.  We did manage to visit Washington Park in Anacortes in late May but by that time the Fairy Slippers were nearly finished and we only saw a couple of them along with a few Coralroots.

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis (Western Fairy Slipper)

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis (Western Spotted 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)

Four Orchids in Sherman Pass

Traveling to eastern Washington, I did some hiking in the area of Sherman Pass in Colville National Forest.  I was looking for the Northern Twayblade, Neottia borealis, a plant I had seen many times in the Canadian Rockies and never here in Washington.  Using GPS coordinates given me by a friend, I found it at the peak of its bloom right along the trail, about a dozen plants and growing with it, the Early Coralroot, Corallorhiza trifida, though that was very nearly finished blooming.  Later, continuing my trip, I stopped along the road to photograph a large colony of the Stream Orchid, Epipactis gigantea, and some Sierra Rein Orchis, Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys, growing with them.  The star of the show, though, was the Listera, a first for me in Washington.

Northern Twayblade

Neottia borealis

Early Coralroot

 Corallorhiza trifida

Stream Orchid

Epipactis gigantea

Sierra Rein Orchis

Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys