Native Orchids of Mount Robson Provincial Park

Mount Robson Provincial Park is one of our favorite places for hiking and backpacking and is conveniently located on the way to Edmonton, the home of one of our daughters.  Two summers, 2009 and 2010, we backpacked in the park for five days and the last two summers, 2011 and 2012, we've hiked there.  We've found it to have more native orchids than any other place we've hiked.

This post shows the different species and varieties we've found in the park, a total of nineteen, but we are fairly sure that there are five or six more that we have not seen.  Most of these we've seen flowering around the end of June and beginning of July at different elevations, but several do not bloom until later in the summer and we've had to make a point of hiking there in August to catch them.

The species and varieties we've found are:

Amerorchis rotundifolia, the Small Round-leaf Orchis

Calypso bulbosa var. americana, the Eastern Fairy Slipper

Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata, the Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza trifida, the Early Coralroot

Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens, the Large Yellow Lady's Slipper

Cypripedium passerinum, the Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper

Goodyera oblongifolia, the Giant Rattlesnake Orchis

Goodyera repens, the Lesser Rattlesnake Orchis

Listera borealis, the Northern Twayblade

Listera cordata var. cordata, the Heart-leaved Twayblade

Listera cordata var. cordata fma. viridens,
the green form of the Heart-leaved Twayblade

Piperia unalascensis, the Alaskan Piperia

Platanthera aquilonis, the Northern Green Bog Orchis

Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata, the Tall White Northern Bog Orchis

Platanthera dilatata var. albiflora, The Bog Candle

Platanthera huronensis, the Green Bog Orchis

Platanthera obtusata ssp. obtusata, The Blunt-leafed Rein Orchis

Platanthera orbiculata, the Pad-leaved Orchis

Platanthera stricta, the Slender Bog Orchis

There are two others we've seen in nearby areas, Cypripedium montanum and Coeloglossum viride var. virescens, the former to west of the park and the later to the east in Jasper National Park.  These almost certainly bloom within Robson as well.  We intend to look for them the next time we are in the area and have time to do some hiking, since we now know something of their habitats.

Cypripedium montanum, the Mountain Lady's Slipper

Coeloglossum viride var. virescens, the Long-bracted Green Orchis

There are probably a number of others within the confines of the park, though we have not seen them or seen any record of them.  They are fairly common species and are found in surrounding areas.  These are plants we would like to find within the park as well, though with several exceptions, we have seen them elsewhere and they are relatively common.

Corallorhiza mertensiana, the Western Coralroot

Corallorhiza striata var. striata, the Striped Coralroot

Listera convallarioides, the Broad-lipped Twayblade

Malaxis brachypoda, the White Adder's Mouth

Malaxis paludosa, the Bog Adder's Mouth

Spiranthes romanzoffiana, the Hooded Ladies' Tresses

Pad-leaved Orchis and Lesser Rattlesnake Orchis along the Berg Lake Trail

We were in Edmonton August 6-10 to see our son-in-law, daughter and two grandchildren there.  We left early in the morning on the 11th and spent the day in Mount Robson Provincial Park hiking the Berg Lake trail as far as Whitehorn, about seven miles (23 kilometers).

We love this area for its spectacular scenery, but it is also an orchidist's paradise, and though we were later than usual, we did find a few in bloom, including one rather common orchid we had not seen in bloom before, as well as many old friends finished blooming and gone to seed.

Those we saw finished and gone to seed were:
Amerorchis rotundifolia (Small Round-leaved Orchis)
Calypso bulbosa var. americana (Eastern Fairy Slipper)
Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens (Large Yellow Lady's Slipper)
Cypripedium passerinum (Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper)
Listera borealis (Northern Twayblade)
Listera cordata var. cordata (Heart-leaved Twayblade)
Platanthera aquilonis (Northern Green Bog Orchis)
Platanthera dilatata (Bog Candle or White Bog Orchis)
Platanthera huronensis (Green Bog Orchis) - a few of these were still in bloom
Platanthera obtusata var. obtusata (Blunt-leaved Rein Orchis
Platanthera stricta (Slender Bog Orchis)

There were a couple we had seen before that we did not see this time:
Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata (Spotted Coralroot)
Corallorhiza trifida (Early Coralroot)
Coeloglossum viride var. virescens (Long-bracted Green Orchis)

We also saw Goodyera oblongifolia, the Giant Rattlesnake Orchis just starting to bloom, but I did not get any pictures as it is common throughout our area.  The two we did see in bloom were the Lesser Rattlesnake Orchis, Goodyera repens, and the Pad-leaved Orchis, Platanthera orbiculata.

The latter was blooming as single plants scattered in mossy, shady areas throughout the woods to the east of Kinney Lake.  It is without doubt the most beautiful of the Platantheras in our area, both for its large and striking flowers and its beautiful, plate-shaped leaves.

The Lesser Rattlesnake Orchis we had seen before, but never in bloom, since we are usually in the area in June and July and this blooms in August.  Its crystalline white flowers were a delight.  It was everywhere and did not seem to be very fussy about location.

Platanthera obtusata along the Berg Lake Trail

Hiking the Berg Lake Trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia on Monday, July 11, this was one of the native orchid species I was especially looking for.  I had wanted to get better photos than those I had in my files and was delighted to find them everywhere.

There were a few plants along the lower end of the trail, but they were everywhere in the woods on the east side of Kinney Lake, often single plants but sometimes in large clumps.  They are immediately recognizable by the single, ground-hugging, glossy leaf and the distinctive white and green flowers.

These are the larger flowered sub-species obtusata.  There is a few-flowered, smaller sub-species that grows only in Alaska.  This subspecies grows in woodland areas, usually in mossy, well-drained locations along the trails and even on top of rocks and old logs.

I've described them in more detail in a previous post: http://nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/03/blunt-leafed-rein-orchis-platanthera.html.

Neottia cordata on the Berg Lake Trail

Another tiny orchid, easy to miss, but blooming everywhere along the Berg Lake Trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park is Neottia cordata, the Heart-leaved Twayblade.  Its flowers are tiny but unique with their forked lip and are easily identifiable by that feature as well.

There are two varieties of this orchid, and the variety which we saw here is almost certainly variety nephrophylla.  The whole nomenclature thing is a little confusing since both varieties have both a green and a red form, both of which we saw on this hike along one of our favorite trails.

Cypripedium parviflorum in the Canadian Rockies

One of the main reasons for stopping in Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia and in Jasper National Park in Alberta whenever we are traveling to Edmonton is to see Cypripedium parviflorum in bloom.  This year, however, we were a little late and almost missed them.

We stopped at three different locations.  At the first they were completely finished, at the second some of the flowers were still good enough to photograph and at the third they were also starting to go by, but still decent, so we did not miss them entirely.

In the third location we know of only a few clumps visible from the road.  In the other two locations they grow by the thousands and it is always a joy to see them.  They are variety pubescens, the Large Yellow Lady's Slipper, distinguished by its larger flowers and faint scent.

These flowers were photographed at the second location near Kinney Lake on the Berg Lake trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park.  There are thousands of these plants there in several different locations but only a few flowers left at the location I visited.

Neottia borealis on the Berg Lake Trail

These native orchids are so small that whenever I am taking pictures of them along the trail someone stops and asks what I'm photographing.  In fact on this hike I missed most of them on the way in and only saw them on the way out when I was keeping a closer watch for them.

The flowers are distinguished by the dark green stripe on the lip, but the plants are less than 15 cm tall and are usually hidden by other vegetation.  They tend to grow in darker locations and are also for that reason somewhat difficult to find and even more difficult to photograph.

Neottia borealis, the Northern Twayblade, grows all along the Berg Lake Trail from very near its beginning up to the shores of Berg Lake and is in bloom over a very long period of time.  I enjoy it but can understand the unenthusiastic response of some.