The End of Another Season

Our 2016 native orchid season was considerably abbreviated by a trip to Australia, so we saw only a limited number of the species we usually visit and did not accomplish much of what we had intended for the season.  The high point was finding in Washington a species we had seen elsewhere but not in the state, Listera or Neottia borealis, the Northern Twayblade.  True to its name we found it in the northernmost parts of the state.

We also looked for and found again some rarities, particularly the natural hybrid of the two varieties of Fairy Slippers, the Eastern and Western Fairy Slippers, Kostiuk's Hybrid Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae, and the white form of the Western Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea.  Both of these were growing where we had found them previously and seemed well established in those locations.

We found some new sites for the Western Fairy Slipper and for the Early Coralroot, Corallorhiza trifida, the latter especially important since it is not common in the state of Washington.  These sites were on both sides of the Cascades and proof that the species is adaptable and quite widely distributed, though it is here near the southern end of its range, being much more common as one moves to the north. 

We missed a lot of species, however, and will have to look for some of them next year.  As always are plans are to look for new locations and to find in the state of Washington the species we have not yet seen there, especially Dactylorhiza viride var. virescens, the Long-bracted Green Orchis, and Platanthera obtusata var. obtusata, the Blunt-leaved Rein Orchis, and we have locations for both within the state.

Three Orchids near Wauconda

Another location I visited on May 20th, but much further north, was a site where the Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana, grows in abundance, but I found it near the end of its bloom season and early like everything else.  This variety of the Fairy Slipper is very different from the Western Fairy Slipper, with a yellow beard on an otherwise nearly unspotted lip.  Nor does it grow west of the Cascades as does the Western Fairy Slipper.  I also found in the same location one plant still in bloom of Kostiuk's Hybrid Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae, a rare natural hybrid of the Eastern and Western Fairy Slippers.  It is also very distinctive, with a pale yellow beard, midway between the bright yellow and white of the two varieties and a finely spotted lip.  With these two Fairy Slippers there were also several stems of the Early Coralroot, Corallorhiza trifida.

Eastern Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa var. americana

Eastern Fairy Slipper (pink form)
Calypso bulbosa var. americana fma. rosea

Kostiuk's Hybrid Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae

Early Coralroot

Corallorhiza trifida

The End of Another Season (2015)

What a strange season this was!  The season began earlier than ever before with the first Fairy Slippers blooming in March and ended nearly a month early with nearly everything finished blooming by the beginning of August.  We had almost no snow in the mountains last winter, a very early and warm spring, followed by a summer that was hot and dry like none we've ever had before.

The orchids, except at higher elevations were almost all very few in number and were often blooming poorly as well.  We saw a lot of aphids, usually a sign of excessive dryness, and in some cases, especially with the Spiranthes, there were sites where the plants had apparently gone completely dormant.  We hope at least that they are dormant and not gone forever.

In spite of the many disappointments there were a few highlights.  We saw for the first time the natural hybrid of the two varieties of Calypso bulbosa, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae.  We had looked for this for several years and finally found it.  It's a hybrid of the Eastern and Western Fairy Slippers, variety americana and var. occidentalis and though it has features of both is very different from either.

We also saw for the first time the albino (alba) form of the Mountain Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium montanum fma. praetertinctum (that last word means "without color").  We had looked for this also many times before but found it in a location where we had looked and where, at least at that time, it was not growing.  We found only a few plants but at least we found it.

One other highlight was that with the help of a good friends we now have locations for some of the native orchids we have not seen in the state of Washington.  We've seen them elsewhere, but not at home.  We hope there will be opportunity to see them next season and to finish seeing all the native orchids of Washington within the state.  These are some of them.

Coeloglossum (Dactylorhiza) viride var. virescens

Platanthera obtusata var. obtusata

Listera (Neottia) borealis

Seventh Orchid of the Season and a First

Today we found our seventh orchid of the season and it was a first for us.  For several years we have gone in the spring to see the Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana.  That variety grows only to the east of the Cascade Mountains but is found from there to the east coast of the USA and Canada.  We have to travel across the mountains to eastern Washington to see it, therefore, and the trip is not one we make on the spur of the moment.  The variety that grows in our area, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis, the Western Fairy Slipper, grows only to the west of the Rocky Mountains and we see it often.

These two varieties are very distinct as the pictures show, but between the Cascades and the Rockies their ranges overlap and there is a natural hybrid of the two varieties, very different from either.  That natural hybrid is known as Kostiuk's Hybrid Calypso, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae (the "x" indicating a natural hybrid).  Along with the photos of this hybrid I've included photos of both the Eastern and Western Fairy Slippers for comparison and it is obvious that this hybrid has characteristics of both, the yellowish beard of the Eastern Fairy Slipper and the spotted lip of the Western Fairy Slippe.

Looking for this hybrid we had two sets of GPS coordinates to work with.  We found one plant of the hybrid at the first location but did not find it at the second.  We did, however, find one other flower and found it as we walked several miles of trails examining every plant of the hundreds that were still in flower.  The first flower we found was starting to go by and the lip was darkening and curling and we did not even recognize it as the hybrid at first.  The second flower was fresh and clearly identifiable as the hybrid.  We were very excited to find it after so many failures and on a beautiful day when photography was easy.

Kostiuk's Hybrid Calypso, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae
(yellow beard and spotted lip)

Western Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis

(white beard, spotted lip)

Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana

(yellow beard, unspotted lip)