Heliotrope Ridge

 

2020 has not been a good year for native orchids, mostly because of covid.  We have not been able to do the hiking we usually do and many of our hikes have been in areas that were not shut down but had few or no native orchids.  We did manage a hike in the North Cascades to Heliotrope Ridge near Mount Baker but saw only three orchids, a Twayblade, which we saw along the trail and two Platantheras, which we saw at the traihead in a boggy area.

 

Neottia cordata var. nephrophylla (Western Heart-leaved Twayblade)

Platanthera stricta (Slender Bog Orchis)

Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata (White Bog Orchis)

Orchids at Annette Lake

Our final orchid trip for the year was Annette Lake where we stopped to look for Platanthera orbiculata, the Pad-leaved Orchis.  Annette Lake is one of the few locations we know for this striking orchid.  We found a few plants, fewer than we had seen on previous visits and those we saw were not yet in bloom.  We also saw a few other orchids.

Platanthera orbiculata (Pad-leaved Orchis

Corallorhiza mertensiana (Western Coralroot)

 

 Neottia banksiana (Northwestern Twayblade)

 

Neottia cordata var. nephrophylla (Heart-leaved Twayblade)

Platanthera stricta (Slender Bog Orchid)

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.

Four Orchids in Sherman Pass

Traveling to eastern Washington, I did some hiking in the area of Sherman Pass in Colville National Forest.  I was looking for the Northern Twayblade, Neottia borealis, a plant I had seen many times in the Canadian Rockies and never here in Washington.  Using GPS coordinates given me by a friend, I found it at the peak of its bloom right along the trail, about a dozen plants and growing with it, the Early Coralroot, Corallorhiza trifida, though that was very nearly finished blooming.  Later, continuing my trip, I stopped along the road to photograph a large colony of the Stream Orchid, Epipactis gigantea, and some Sierra Rein Orchis, Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys, growing with them.  The star of the show, though, was the Listera, a first for me in Washington.

Northern Twayblade

Neottia borealis

Early Coralroot

 Corallorhiza trifida

Stream Orchid

Epipactis gigantea

Sierra Rein Orchis

Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys