Two Platantheras Near Home

This year was an especially good year for wildflowers and orchids in our area due to a longer, cooler and wetter spring.  The last while I found several Piperias (now Platanthera) near our home, an especially nice find since we have had little opportunity to do any orchid hunting the past couple years.  One of the species, Piperia or Platanthera elongata, the Long-spurred Piperia, I had seen before, but this year I found it in five or six different locations within two miles of our home.  The other species, Piperia or Platanthera elegans, the Elegant Piperia, I had not seen before in our area and was thrilled to find one lonely stem.  Here are the photos.

Piperia elegans, Elegant Piperia

Piperia elongata, Long-spurred Piperia

Three Piperias and a Goodyera at Deception Pass

Saturday, July 30, I was down on Whidbey Island at Deception Pass State Park to look for several orchids there.  I found three Platantheras (formerly Piperias) and one Goodyera in bloom.  Goodyera oblongifolia, the Giant Rattlesnake Orchis, was just starting to bloom.  The three Platantheras were at different stages of their bloom seasons.  Platanthera elegans, the Elegant Piperia, was nearly finished.  Platanthera transversa, the Flat-spurred Piperia, was still good but past its prime, and Plaatanthera elongata, the Long-spurred Piperia was at the peak of its bloom.  The latter species was also more abundant than usual, with hundreds of plants and several large colonies.  It should be noted that all the Piperias are now reclassified as Platantheras, though I prefer the old names since they are so distinctive.

Giant Rattlesnake Orchis

Goodyera oblongifolia

Elegant Piperia

Platanthera elegans

Flat-spurred Piperia

Platanthera transversa

Long-spurred Piperia

Platanthera elongata

Long-spurred Piperia near Pend Oreille

While at a youth camp near Pend Oreille on the Washington Idaho border, I hiked into the hills back of the camp and found a number of Long-spurred Piperia (Platanthera elongata) in bloom.  This rather common species has recently been renamed - it was Piperia elongata, but I prefer the older name since the Piperias are very distinctive.

Twenty-eighth Orchid of the Season and Others

All five Piperias (now Platantheras) can be found in Olympic National Park.  We found four of the five when we were there in July, but this one, the fourth we found, was very nearly finished flowering.  In fact, we found only one spike that still had any flowers on it and they were well on their way to oblivion.  The species looks like Platanthera unalascensis, the Alaskan Piperia, but has white instead of green flowers.  The inflorescences grow to 60 cm with numerous 3-4 mm flowers.  At flowering the leaves are usually withered away or starting to wither, a characteristic of all the Platanthera/Piperias.  Known until recently as Piperia candida, it is now classified as Platanthera ephemerantha.

Platanthera ephemerantha

Along with Platanthera ephemerantha candida we found more Platanthera elongata, with its small, faintly fragrant, green flowers and long downward-curved spur.  Like the other Piperias, it seems to be one of the few orchids unaffected by the hot dry summer we've had, though, as is characteristic, the leaves have usually withered away.  These plants tend to grow on exposed hillsides, trailsides, and dry mossy banks, as well as in dry forests.  Platanthera elongata, is the last of the Platanthera/Piperias to bloom, though their blooming seasons overlap and it is possible to see them all in bloom at the same time.  On this trip it was also the most common of the Piperias and seemed to be on every roadside bank.

Platanthera elongata

Note: I've included some older pictures of Platanthera ephemerantha for lack of anything recently taken.