Native Orchids of the Pacific Northwest and the Canadian Rockies (and Elsewhere): heart-leaved twayblade

Showing posts with label heart-leaved twayblade. Show all posts

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Three Orchids along the Thunder Creek Trail

Saturday, May 21, was a hike at Thunder Creek with the Washington Native Orchid Society. We went to see the Western Fairy Slippers, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis, but they were all finished. We found two Twayblades, the Northwestern Twayblade, Neottia banksiana, also known as Neottia caurina, and the Heart-leaved Twayblade, Neottia cordata var. cordata, but it was nearly finished blooming. The star of the show was the Western or Merten's Coralroot, Corallorhiza mertensiana, which we saw in a variety of colors including some very pale forms. Actually we saw a fourth orchid as well, the Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis, but we were near the end of the hike and the battery in my camera was dead, so I did not get pictures.

Northwestern Twayblade

Neottia banksiana (caurina)

Heart-leaved Twayblade

Neottia cordata var. cordata

Western Coralroot

Corallorhiza mertensiana

Western Coralroot (pale form)

Corallorhiza mertensiana fma. pallida

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Three Orchids on Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands

Monday, April 11, we went to Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands (both driveable) to look for orchids and spring wildflowers. We found more Western Fairy Slippers and in some locations found them near the end of their bloom season. Among them we found two white flowers and we found two other orchids. The Western Heart-leaved Twayblade we found at one location where we had found it before, but only two plants and both the reddish form of the species. We usually find this species blooming later in abundance in the mountains, but this location is near the coast and near sea level. We also found the Western Spotted Coralroots beginning to bloom at two locations.

Western Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis