Two Color Forms of Galearis rotundifolia

While orchid hunting in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia we found two color forms of Amerorchis rotundifolia now Galearis rotundifolia.  The ordinary form has a spotted lip (see photo below) but these two forms are different.  Fma. lineata has a lip with heavy purple "lines" and fma. immaculata has a pure white lip.  I had seen fma. lineata before but had never seen fma. immaculata.

Galearis rotundifolia fma. immaculata

 Galearis rotundifolia fma. lineata

In addition to these forms we found a form, not named, but probably fma. lineata, with a lip that ws almost solid purple.  There are other color forms as well, some of which we've seen and some not.  There is a pink-flowered form, an all-white form and a form with green on lip and very faint pinkish-purple markings.  Some effort is required to examine the plants for these different forms but the effort is often rewarded since they often grow mixed in with the ordinary spotted form of the flowers.

Galearis rotundifolia is a small terrestrial orchid, generally around 15 cm with 2 cm flowers, with up to 15 flowers per inflorescence.  It easily goes unnoticed but up close is very beautiful with the flowers resembling little angels.  When found it is often found in abundance with hundreds of plants in an area.  It prefers slightly shady forest locations that have plenty of water and is widespread.

Galearis rotundifolia

More Orchids on Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands

I was out for several hours with members of our local orchid society visiting some of the sites we know on Whidbey and Fidalgo Islandz.  We found three different species and number of rarities including white Fairy Slippers (Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea) and both the golden-stemmed and the unspotted form of the Western Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. aurea and fma. immaculata).  We also found the dark purple form of the Western Coralroot or Merten's Coralroot (Corallorhiza mertensiana), a form which we know from only one location (this species usually comes in shades of pink, tan, yellow and white).  The Fairy Slippers were nearly finished but the Coralroots were just coming to the peak of their bloom season.  Interestingly, the Fairy Slippers and Western Spotted Coralroots were fewer in number than previous years but the Western Coralroots were much more abundant.

Western Coralroot

Corallorhiza mertensiana

Western Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis

 gold-stemmed Western Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. aurea

unspotted Western Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. immaculata

Western Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis

  

white Western Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. immaculata

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma immaculata is the unspotted form of the Western Spotted Coralroot and a beautiful but rather rare color form.  The stems are bright yellow and the flowers the same yellow with a lip.  The plant lacks all the red and purple color of the normally colored form.  We know of one place where this grows and visited it early this spring when the plants were just beginning to grow and flower and I visited it again when the plants had grown a bit.  Interestingly, the plants are much shorter this year than last year and I am not sure what the reason might be and wonder if they are declining in vigor.

May 3

May 9

Fifth Week of the Native Orchid Season - Fairy Slippers, Three Coralroots and Two Rarities

May 5-11

On Friday, May 10th, I managed to get out to three different places here in Western Washington, one of them with a new friend.  A fellow member of the Mount Baker Orchid Society had reported a location for the unspotted yellow form of the Western Spotted Coralroot and had put me in touch with Phyllis, who agreed to show me where it and several white Fairy Slippers could be found.  This, then, is Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. immaculata.

 

We were out for several hours Friday and I saw both the white Fairy Slippers she had found and the yellow Coralroots and was able to get photos of both.  The Fairy Slippers are near the end of their season and the yellow Coralroots are just starting to bloom, but it was exciting and satisfying to see these rarities.  I went on to several other locations (more on that below) after parting way with Phyllis, and found some other native orchids at those locations, so it was a very good day.

The white Fairy Slipper is Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis, fma. nivea.  Variety occidentalis refers to the fact that this is the Western Fairy Slipper, and forma nivea mean that this is the white form.  The Coralroot is Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. immaculata.  Variety occidentalis refers again to the fact that this is the western variety of the Spotted Coralroot, and forma immaculata to the fact that it is unspotted (in this case unspotted and yellow).

We found several lighter forms of the Fairy Slipper.  They seem rather common, though it is not always easy to tell if the flower is truly a lighter form or whether it has been pollinated and is dying, since they also turn white at that stage.  The pure white form is quite rare, it seems, as is often the case with albino flowers and animals - rare but very beautiful.  The others I saw were the normal pink color.

I found Coralroots at all three locations, the Striped Coralroot, Corallorhiza striata, and many more Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis, but all the normally colored forms including both the brown-stemmed (fma. intermedia), and the most common bronze-stemmed forms: http://nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/09/variation-in-spotted-coralroot.html.

 Striped Coralroot - Corallorhiza striata

Western Spotted Coralroot - Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis

(both bronze and brown-stemmed forms)

note the more or less rounded lip, the distinguishing characteristic of this variety

The Western Coralroot, Corallorhiza mertensiana, was just starting to bloom in one location and the flowers were not even fully opened.  This location has the darkest form of this very variable species that I have found anywhere, a very dark reddish-purple.  I'll have to go back and take more photos in a week or two when more are open and will then photograph other color forms at another location where we go to see them every year.