Thirty-first Orchid of the Season

It is amazing that by August 1st the native orchid season was already over this year.  Usually the season extends well into August and there are orchids to be found even into September, but not this year - it was too hot and too dry.  August 1st was the last field trip for the Washington Native Orchid Society and a small group of us visited several sites in eastern Washington near the Columbia River to see the endangered Ute Ladies'-tresses, Spiranthes diluvialis.  Like so many other species they were very few in number this year and were totally absent at one site.  We did find enough for photographs, however, though even those plants  were past their prime.  Spiranthes diluvialis is a natural hybrid of Spiranthes magnicamporum, the Great Plains Ladies'-tresses, which does not even grow in Washington, and Spiranthes romanzoffiana, the Hooded Ladies'-tresses.  It is taller than the Hooded Ladies'-tresses, up to 60 cm, though many of the plants we saw were much shorter.  The 1 cm flowers have a fringed appearance that immediately distinguishes them from our other two Spiranthes.

The End of Another Season (2014)

This year was a very good season for orchid hunting.  In the course of our travels and hiking, myself alone, the two of us together or with others, we not only revisited many sites, but found new sites both in Washington and in the Canadian Rockies.  We made a number of excursions with the Washington Native Orchid Society and were able to take them to several locations we had discovered.  We also spent three days with friends from Germany who had come to see some of our native orchids and were happy to show them 15 different species and varieties.

The highlight of the year was finding the two Washington native species that we had not seen before.  The first of the two was Spiranthes diluvialis, a very rare natural hybrid of Spiranthes romanzoffiana, the Hooded Ladies'-tresses and Spiranthes magnicamporum, the Great Plains Ladies'-tresses.  The second was Neottia convallarioides, the Broad-lipped Twayblade, a rather insignificant plant but also rare.  Seeing and photographing these two species means that we have seen all of Washington's known native orchids, though not everyone of them in the state of Washington (more on that).

 

Along with these two we found some interesting new color forms of Corallorhiza maculata, the Spotted Coralroot, a species that seems to be endlessly variable in color.  We saw these color forms, both named and unnamed, in both varieties, the ordinary Spotted Corallroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata, and the Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis.  Seeing so many different forms has convinced us that naming these forms, with a few exceptions, is a useless endeavor not only because there are so many but because the variations are endless.

Other finds were a nearly white form of the Small Round-leaf Orchis, Amerorchis rotundifolia fma. wardii. There is an all-white form which we have not seen, fma. beckettiae, but this form has pale pink makings on the lip.  There are numerous color forms of this species and several others as well that we have yet to see, but were very pleased to find a few of these growing among many other normally colored forms.  In fact, we have found that having seen all of our native species many times, we spend more time looking for unusual examples and rare color forms.

That leaves us with plans for 2015, which we intend to be much more relaxed.  I have in mind seeing in the state the Washington native species that I have not seen there, though I have seen them elsewhere.  They are Coeloglossum viride var. virescens, the Long-bracted Green Orchis, Listera borealis, the Northern Twayblade, Liparis loeselii, the Fen Orchis, Platanthera obtusata, the Blunt-leafed Rein Orchis, and Platanthera orbiculata, the Pad-leaved Orchis.  We've seen these elsewhere but would like to see them here, though some of them are very rare in the state.

We would also like to see the species we did not see this season and would especially like to visit northern California and southern Oregon once again.  Along with seeing these we would like to see in Alberta, in California and in some of the states bordering the Pacific Northwest, some of the new species we have not seen before.  There are also a number of Pacific Northwest species that are found only in Canada and Alaska that we would like to see, but all these plans depend on time and opportunity.  In any case we intend to continue our orchid hunting.

Spiranthes diluvialis

Spiranthes diluvialis, the Ute Ladies'-tresses, was the last of the native orchids we saw this season and we saw it for the first time ever in the Columbia River basin.  It is a natural hybrid of Spiranthes romanzoffiana, the Hooded Ladies'-tresses, and Spiranthes magnicamporum, the Great Plans Ladies'-tresses, a species that does not grow in the Pacific Northwest.  It is very rare and listed as Federally threatened, due especially to habitat destruction.  We had looked for it previous years but with better information we found it this season and found it growing in the kind of location it prefers, along a river and in an area that is often inundated well into the summer months.  It is a beautiful species with white to near-white flowers, plants that are 30 cm tall, and flowers that are tubular and 1.5 cm long.  The flowers like most of the Spiranthes are "braided" around the stem, adding to the beauty of the species.

The End of Another Season (2012)

And so we come to the end of another season of orchid hunting and to the last post of the year.  There remain three species native to the state of Washington that we still have not seen, though all of them are rare to very rare here.  They are Wister's Coralroot, Corallorhiza wisteriana, the Broad-lipped Twayblade, Listera convallarioides, for which we have a location, but missed it this past summer, and the natural hybrid, the Ute Ladies' Tresses, Spiranthes diluvialis.  These are at the head of our list for next summer, and we do have a couple of locations for the Ute Ladies' Tresses, but both are outside of our own state.

It was good summer.  We saw and photographed many familiar species in locations we had already visited and in new locations and we saw three new species, Cypripedium californicum, the California Lady's Slipper, and Goodyera repens, the Lesser Rattlesnake Orchis, neither of which are native to Washington, and Platanthera sparsiflora, the Few-flowered Rein Orchis.

Cypripedium californicum

Goodyera repens and Platanthera sparsiflora

We found one important variety that we had not seen before, Vreeland's Coralroot, Corallorhiza striata var. vreelandii (top photo), and several significant forms of common species, the white form of the Western Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea, the yellow-stemmed form of the Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. aurea.

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. aurea

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea

We also found locations for the unspotted form of the Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. immaculata and a Washington location for Chamisso's Orchid, Platanthera chorisiana, but both were nearly finished flowering and we were unable to get any really decent pictures.  In all it was an excellent season and one to be remembered.