Eight Orchids near Greenwater

We spent Wednesday, July 25, in the Greenwater area of Washington, near Mount Rainier.  We hiked two trails and drove some Forest Service roads looking for native orchids and other wildflowers.  We were not disappointed.  We found eight different orchid species and an additional color form of one of them, though one of the eight orchids was not yet in flower and one was nearly finished and was not photographed.  They were:

Cypripedium fasciculatum, the Brownie or Clustered Lady's Slipper,
shown in another post.

Brownie Lady's Slipper

Corallorhiza maculata var maculata, the Spotted Coralroot,
nearly finished and without photos.

Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza mertensiana, the Western Coralroot.

Goodyera oblongifolia, the Giant Rattlesnake Orchis, not yet in bloom.

Listera banksiana, the Northwestern Twayblade.

Listera cordata var. nephrophylla, the Western Heart-leaved Twayblade.

Listera cordata var. nephrophylla fma. rubescens,
the reddish form of the Western Heart-leaved Twayblade.

Platanthera ephemerantha, the Slender White Piperia.

Platanthera stricta, the Slender Bog Orchis.

Brownie Lady's Slippers near Greenwater

Wednesday, July 26th, was our day out for the week (we try to get out once a week in the summer), and we decided to explore the Greenwater area near Mount Rainier and look there for the Clustered or Brownie Lady's Slipper, a native orchid that we had not seen in bloom yet this year.

We left at 3:00 am and drove down to our destination and then up several Forest Service roads, arriving at our trailhead before 7:00 am.  We took our time, stopping for coffee and for breakfast and for for pictures along the way.  Along the FS roads we saw a number of other orchids but did not stop for them until later.

This was a good day for orchids.  We saw ten different species and a color variety of one of them along with many other wildflowers.  One of the species was not yet in bloom and one nearly finished with only a few flowers still hanging on, but this was the star of the show.

The Clustered or Brownie Lady's Slipper is the smallest and rarest of our native Lady's Slippers and this location is protected.  Usually we find this hidden by other vegetation because it is so small, but here the plants were growing in abundance on an open bank.

The plants we saw were 10-15 cm tall with the usual two opposite oval leaves and with one to three flowers per plant and with the usual range of color from green to a rich mahogany purple.  The plants seemed to be thriving in this location with many new seedlings evident.