2017, A Missed Year

 

2017 was a missed year for us as far as native orchids were concerned. I was in the hospital four times from March through August and did not really start feeling better until January of 2018.

Back on March 22 I went in to emergency at the local hospital with what I thought and the doctors first thought was appendicitis. An abdominal drain was put in to drain off the expected infection with an appendectomy scheduled several weeks later. The abdominal drain, however, produced no signs of infection but rather a kind of mucous and I was sent on to a specialist in Seattle who diagnosed the problem as mucinous neoplasms of the appendix, basically a tumor of the appendix that was producing a mucous-like substance that would in time strangle my organs and that could also have been cancerous. I had surgery on May 9 and had my appendix, part of my colon, gall bladder, omentum and peritoneum removed and was in the hospital recovering until May 24th (15 days). Thankfully, there were no signs of cancer.

While recovering from the surgery at home I ended up back in the hospital the end of June with blood clots in left leg and in my lungs. After spending several days in the hospital and being prescribed blood thinners I was sent home again and began the recovery from that problem.

Then the beginning of August I was back in the hospital, first in Bellingham and then after being transferred, in Seattle, this time for an obstructed bowel, the result of scar tissue. That stay lasted a week before the obstruction cleared and again I was sent home and have been home since gradually regaining my strength.

As a result of the surgeries and lengthy recovery I retired and we moved to Spokane, Washington, to be near our handicapped son.

The only native orchids I photographed in 2017 were a couple of orchids in Hyalite Canyon, Montana, and Yellowstone National Park.  We went on a family vacation to the Black Hills in July while I was recovering from surgery and bloodclots and we took two of our grandchildren back to Washington with us for the rest of the summer, stopping in the area of Bozeman, Montana, for a few days.  My father grew up in that area.  We also went on to Yellowstone National Park with them before heading to Washington and I photographed a few orchids in both places.

Hyalite Canyon, Montana

Platanthera dilatata var. albiflora (White Bog Orchid)

Yellowstone National Park

Platanthera dilatata var. albiflora (White Bog Orchid)

Platanthera x estesii (Estes' Hybrid Bog Orchid)

Platanthera stricta (Slender Bog Orchid)

Piperia (Platanthera) unalascensis (Alaskan Piperia)

Spiranthes romanzoffiana (Hooded Ladies' Tresses)

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.

Twenty-ninth Orchid of the Season and Others

Chamisso's Orchid, Platanthera chorisiana, is one of our smallest native orchids and very hard to find.  In our area these grow in a boggy area among the sedges and at the edge of the bushes and shrubs.  Both plant and flowers are the same green as the grasses and sedges, too.  When I went to visit them they were finished blooming and so I've also included an older photo of the species.  They were 15 cm tall or less and the tiny flowers are less than 1 cm and do not open widely.  It grows at high elevations or northern latitudes.

Platanthera chorisiana

Growing in the same area were the Sierra Rein Orchis, Platanthera dilatata var. lecostachys, the Slender Bog Orchis, Platanthera stricta, and the Hooded Ladies'-tresses, Spiranthes romanzoffiana.  All of these were nearing the end of their blooming season as well, especially Platanthera stricta.  All of these plants like wet areas and sedge mat where they were found is always wet, but even there they were earlier than normal, due to an early spring, little snowfall in the mountains, and a hot dry summer.

Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys

Platanthera stricta

Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys and Platanthera stricta

Spiranthes romanzoffiana