The Colorado Rockies

 
Both in 2020 and 2021 the brother next to me and I backpacked in the Rocky Mountains west of Aspen, Colorado.  Last year we did part of the Four Passes Loop in the Maroon Bells.  This year we hiked to Cathedral Lake and Electric Pass and this year we each took a grandson along.  Neither trip was for the purpose of seeing native orchids but we did see a few, all of them familiar to me from the Pacific Northwest.

Platanthera dilatata var dilatata (Tall White Northern Bog Orchid)

Platanthera huronensis (Green Bog Orchis)

Platanthera x estesii (Estes Hybrid Rein Orchis)

Goodyera oblongifolia (Giant Rattlesnake Orchis)

Seventeenth Orchid of the Season

A very common species in the Pacific Northwest, the Green Bog Orchis, Platanthera huronensis, is also rather uninspiring.  It is not always easy to identify, intergrading into several other species, but the following are diagnostic: a whitish-green color, a lip that has a dilated or narrowed base, a spur that is not distinctly inflated, is equal in length to the lip and does not curve strongly forward, with anther sacs toward the top of the flower and almost parallel.  We saw this species in several different locations in Alaska when we were there recently and finally stopped to photograph it along the Richardson Highway between Glennallen and Valdez.  The plants were 24-30 cm tall and were growing with Platanthera aquilonis, the Northern Green Bog Orchis, and Cypripedium passerinum, the Sparrow's-egg Lady's Slipper.

Platanthera huronensis

This rather uninspiring species, the Green Bog Orchis, is common especially as one goes further north.  There are areas in the Canadian Rockies where we see this species by the thousands.  It is one of the green-flowered Platantheras that are sometimes difficult to distinguish, but in our experience the distinguishing features are (1) the color of the flowers which are green to greenish-white, (2) the length of spur, about the same length as the lip, (3) the position of the spur, which is usually only slightly curved forward, (4) the scent - some of the other green-flowered Platantheras are not scented, and (5) the position of the anther sacs high in the flower.  As is evident from some of the pictures, we often find it growing with Platanthera dilatata.

July 7

(Canadian Rockies)

 July 9

(Canadian Rockies)

The Northwest's Green-flowered Platantheras

The green-flowered Platantheras with the exception of the tiny and rare Platanthera chorisiana (Chamiso's Orchid) are very difficult to tell apart and most experts consider them to be a series of species many of which hybridize with one another and thus intergrade.  This is our experience as well.  We have found plants that very closely fit the description of each species, but have also found endless numbers of plants that are very difficult to identify and seem to have characteristics of more than one species.

The species are Platanthera aquilonis, huronensis, sparsiflora and stricta and a number of hybrids, Platanthera x correllii, x estesii and x lassenii, the first a hybrid of Platanthera aquilonis and stricta and the both the latter hybrids of the white-flowered Platanthera dilatata (with P. stricta and P. sparsiflora).  The white-flowered Platanthera dilatata with its three varieties cannot be confused with any of the green-flowered species, but because it hybridizes with them must be considered here also.

Of these species, Platanthera sparsiflora, the Few-Flowered Rein Orchis, is the easiest to identify and the most clearly defined as a species in our experience, though our experience of this species is somewhat limited since it is at the extreme northern limit of its range in Washington.  The narrow flowers, usually widely spaced on tall spikes are the identifying features.  It is found in Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico and in southern Oregon and northern California often grows in serpentine soils.

This species has a named hybrid with Platanthera dilatata, Platanthera x lassenii, Lassen's Hybrid Rein Orchis, but this is known only from cultivation, at least to my knowledge.  I know of no one who has seen it in the wild or seen anything that might resemble it.  The pictures of it I have seen show a spidery pale green flower that looks a bit like the Platanthera dilatata parent.  There are also several varieties and new species that have been separated from this species, but they are not found in the northwest.

Next is Platanthera aquilonis, the Northern Green Bog Orchis, distinguished by its green flowers with a yellowish lip, a lip that is more or less straight-sided, a club-shaped spur that is curved forward and shorter than the lip, an absence of scent and anther sacs that are low in the flower, widely separated at the base and close together at the top.  The pictures below represent close approximations to the description of this species, but as we shall see there are plants that only partly fit this description and have also characteristics of other species.

Platanthera huronensis, the Green Bog Orchis, can be difficult to distinguish from the previous species.  Though it is ordinarily a whitish-green, the color varies and the two species cannot be distinguished by color alone.  Along with the color, its features are a lip that is not yellowish, a lip that has a dilated or narrowed base, a spur that is not as distinctly thickened as the previous species and that is equal in length to the lip and does not curve forward, with anther sacs toward the top of the flower and almost parallel.

Very similar to this species is the natural hybrid of Platanthera dilatata and stricta, P. x estesii.  In our experience the slender curved spur, and the widened base of the lip, both very much like the spur and lip of the Platanthera dilatata parent are distinctive as well as the whitish color.  This hybrid seems quite common - we have seen it in the Olympics, in Yellowstone National Park and in the Canadian Rockies - and if we have correctly identified it would indicate that the two parents rather freely hybridize with one another.  In all these locations the two parents grow and flower together.

Platanthera stricta, the Slender Bog Orchis, is distinguished by rather small green flowers, a straight-sided lip and a spur described as "scrotiform," i.e. with an inflated tip, a spur that is shorter than the length of the flower.  This species is very common and blooms along-side of and concurrently with the other green-flowered Platantheras.  At first meeting it seems rather easy to identify until one begins to find plants that do not match the description of the species exactly and have characteristics of the other species.

Finally, here are a couple of pictures of flowers that do not clearly fit any of the descriptions.  The first has every characteristic of Platanthera stricta, spur shape and lip shape especially, but has a lip that is very yellow, a characteristic of Platanthera aquilonis and the reason I identified it in the field as the latter species.  The second has all the characteristics of Platanthera stricta, too, except the spur in length and shape is much more like that of Platanthera huronensis.  This would probably be classified as Platanthera stricta but is not completely characteristic of that species.

Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Weeks of the Native Orchid Season - a Few Platantheras, a Non-native and an Elusive Rarity

These three weeks were spent traveling cross-country to a youth camp and to visit family and there were few opportunities for orchid hunting, so I've combined the three weeks and the few orchids we saw into one post.

 June 30-July 6

This week was spent driving to a young people's camp in eastern Washington and then to Yellowstone National Park, followed by a long and hurried drive across country to Michigan and Indiana to see family.  Not much time to go orchid hunting and not many orchids to find except some or Bog Orchids.

Platanthera stricta, the Slender Bog Orchis, was at the peak of its blooming season in the Cascades and I made several stops to photograph them.  This is a rather nondescript species with small green flowers that is so common we do not always even take the time to photograph it.

We also found Platanthera dilatata in the North Cascades and again in Yellowstone National Park.  The variety we found growing in the North Cascades, however, was Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata, distinguished by a spur that is approximately the same length as the lip.

In Yellowstone we found that variety as well as Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys, distinguished by its very short spur, very much shorter than the lip.  This species is very common wherever it is found and though beautiful and fragrant is another species that we do not always take time to photograph.

In one area, growing with the Bog Candles, Platanthera dilatata var. albiflora, the  were a number of plants of Platanthera huronensis, the Green Bog Orchis.  The two speciers look quite similar but the Green Bog Orchis is different in color and the shape of the lip.

We also found one plant of Spiranthes romanzoffiana, the Hooded Ladies' Tresses, another common Yellowstone species, in bloom near one of the hot springs, probably encouraged to bloom early by the heat of the spring since this species usually does not bloom until August.

 July 7-13

This second week was spent with family including a few days camping on the shores of Lake Michigan.  We found one orchid which seemed to be everywhere in the sandy areas along the lake and which was just starting to bloom, Epipactis helleborine, the Broad-leaved Helleborine.

This orchid is not actually a native, but a European import which has spread across the northern United States and southern Canada and in some areas has the status of a weed.  We have found it here in Washington in several location, but it was even more common is western Michigan.

July 14-20

The first part of this week was spent with family and the latter part of the week driving home, so there was almost no opportunity for orchid hunting.  On the last leg of our trip, however, we caught up with some of the members of the Washington Native Orchid Society for a hike in the Cascades.

A member of Washington Rare Care was along to show us a location for the tiny and rather inconspicuous but rare, Platanthera chorisiana, Chamisso's Orchid.  A long and difficult hike and a lot of bouldering and walking on snow brought us to the location where we found only one plant just blooming.