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

The End of Another Season (2013)

The 2013 native orchid season was very unusual in some ways.  It began very early with a warm wet spring and ended very early with a warm dry summer.  It was good orchid-hunting season for us in our own state, however, with one variety, two species and one natural hybrid seen in Washington for the first time, along with several new locations found for the all-white form of the Western Fairy Slipper and with our first look at the unspotted form of the Western Spotted Coralroot.

On a trip to Canada we saw two new species that we had not seen before, as well as a new variety of the Small Round-leaf Orchis, a very common northern species that is not found in Washington.  All of these are very rare and elusive and we are very thankful to a friend, Ben Rostron, for trusting us enough to take us to see them in their closely guarded locations.  This trip was the high point of the orchid season for us and we hope to make the trip again next year.

The two species that we had not seen before in Washington were Cypripedium parviflorum and the elusive and tiny Platanthera chorisiana.  The former is very rare in Washington and the latter rare throughout its range.  We also saw the natural hybrid of Cypripedium parviflorum and Cypripedium montanum, Cypripedium x columbianum.  Though we had seen this hybrid before we were delighted to find it growing in a mixed population that included both parents.

We also saw for the first time in Washington, the Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana.  We had seen this species in British Columbia but not in our state.  In the location where we found it we looked for the natural hybrid of the two varieties of Fairy Slippers, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae, but could not find it, another task for next season.  The Eastern Fairy Slipper is notable for its yellow beard and unspotted central lip lobe.

The new species seen in Canada were Liparis loeslii, the Fen Orchis and Malaxis brachypoda, the White Adder's Mouth.  Both of these are rather insignificant and would probably pass unnoticed to the casual observer, but we were delighted to see them for their rarity.  We also saw on this trip Amerorchis rotundifolia fma. lineata, the striped-lip form of the common Small Round-leaf Orchis.  This form is in our opinion even more beautiful than the ordinary form.

We had seen the white form of the Western Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa fma. nivea, once before, but we discovered this spring that that plant had been dug up and stolen.  We found several more locations for it, however, and are keeping the location a closely-guarded secret.  We also found a near-white form with only hints of color, what would probably be called a semi-alba form in the orchid world.  That location, too, we are keeping secret or sharing only with those we trust.

Finally, we were taken by another friend to see the yellow, unspotted form of the Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. immaculata, a spectacular plant whose location will also remain undisclosed.  These, with new locations for many other species, with visits to many locations that we had visited before, and with all the other natural beauties we see on these excursions, made for a very profitable and interesting season.

One note: we found through a friend that one species reported from the Pacific Northwest, Wister's Coralroot, Corallorhiza wisteriana is not actually found there.  The original location, so we were informed, was in a garden where it had been transplanted from further east.  That leaves only two species from Washington that we have not seen, Listera convallarioides, the Broad-lipped Twayblade, and Spiranthes diluvialis, the Ute Ladies-tresses.

Twelfth Week of the Native Orchid Season (2) - Liparis, Malaxis, Amerorchis, Listera, Platanthera and Cypripedium

June 23-29

What a week this was!  Not only did we see a lot of familiar orchid species on our way up to Edmonton (see part 1 of this post), but I managed to get out with Ben Rostron while we were in Edmonton to two natural areas and saw two new species as well as a rare variety of one I had seen many times before.  The day with Ben, the subject of this post, was one of the best orchid hunting days I've had in a long time.

The first place we visited was a fen where Liparis loeselii, the Fen Orchis, had recently been found, its first record for Alberta.  It is supposed to be native to Washington but I know of no locations in the state and had not seen it before.  It also grows in northern Europe and is quite small, the plants 5-20cm and the flowers around 1cm.  We found it growing with the Purple Pitcher Plant and other bog plants.

The second place was a natural area that had as many native orchids as we wanted to see, Platanthera huronensis, the Green Bog Orchis, thousands of the Large Yellow Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens, the Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium passerinum, and the Western Heart-leaved Twayblade, Listera cordata var. nephrophylla.

Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens

Cypripedium passerinum

Listera cordata var. nephrophylla

Another orchid we saw there is very common in British Columbia and Alberta, and we saw many of the Small Round-leaf Orchis, Amerorchis rotundifolia, with its tiny bird-like flowers.  What was very exciting, though, was finding (with directions from a friend) two plants of the rare lined-lip form, Amerorchis rotundifolia fma. lineata.  We looked for the all-white form also but did not find it.

Amerorchis rotundifolia fma. lineata

The real star of the day, however, was the tiny and rare (in the northwest) White Adder's-mouth, Malaxis brachypoda, or as it is sometimes known, Malaxis monophyllos var. brachypoda.  This species, too, is not found in Washington.  We found two plants in flower, one 12cm tall and the other only 5cm with tiny flowers that are 3mm in size, very distinctive with its single shiny leaf.

Notes:
(1) I did not take pictures of the Platanthera huronensis at either of the sites we visited having taken so many pictures of that species on the way to Edmonton.  These pictures can be seen in part 1 of this post.
(2) And, Ben, if you see this, thanks again for taking me around.