Orchids on Fidalgo Island

 

Because of the covid outbreak were not able to visit many of our favorite orchid hunting location this year.  Most of the state parks and national forests were closed until late in the summer and the city parks also.  We had to do most of our hiking in areas where there were no orchids and that were close to home.  We did manage to visit Washington Park in Anacortes in late May but by that time the Fairy Slippers were nearly finished and we only saw a couple of them along with a few Coralroots.

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis (Western Fairy Slipper)

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis (Western Spotted Coralroot)

Western Fairy Slippers near Leavenworth

On our way to eastern Washington recently we hiked (dwadled is more accurate) along the Chiwaukum Creek trail through an area that was devastated last summer by wildfires (the Chiwaukum Complex Fires).  We went looking to see if the Fairy Slippers were blooming there and they were, though there were not nearly as many of them as previous years.  The area where we usually find them had been missed by the fires, but we wondered if their lack of numbers was not somehow related to the fires.

More Orchids on Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands

I was out for several hours with members of our local orchid society visiting some of the sites we know on Whidbey and Fidalgo Islandz.  We found three different species and number of rarities including white Fairy Slippers (Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea) and both the golden-stemmed and the unspotted form of the Western Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. aurea and fma. immaculata).  We also found the dark purple form of the Western Coralroot or Merten's Coralroot (Corallorhiza mertensiana), a form which we know from only one location (this species usually comes in shades of pink, tan, yellow and white).  The Fairy Slippers were nearly finished but the Coralroots were just coming to the peak of their bloom season.  Interestingly, the Fairy Slippers and Western Spotted Coralroots were fewer in number than previous years but the Western Coralroots were much more abundant.

Western Coralroot

Corallorhiza mertensiana

Western Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis

 gold-stemmed Western Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. aurea

unspotted Western Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. immaculata

Western Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis

  

white Western Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea

Three Orchids on Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands

Monday, April 11, we went to Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands (both driveable) to look for orchids and spring wildflowers.  We found more Western Fairy Slippers and in some locations found them near the end of their bloom season.  Among them we found two white flowers and we found two other orchids.  The Western Heart-leaved Twayblade we found at one location where we had found it before, but only two plants and both the reddish form of the species.  We usually find this species blooming later in abundance in the mountains, but this location is near the coast and near sea level.  We also found the Western Spotted Coralroots beginning to bloom at two locations.

Western Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis

a very pale form and a flower that is pollinated and finished

White Western Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis fma. nivea

Western Heart-leaved Twayblade

Neottia cordata var. nephrophylla fma. rubescens

Western Spotted Coralroot 

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis