Tenth Orchid of the Season and Others

We made a brief trip recently to see one of the most amazing of our native orchids, Cephalanthera austiniae, the Phantom Orchid.  After a failed attempt at a first location we found and photographed it at a second location, our tenth orchid of the season.  We did find it at the first location - it was everywhere - but we only found one plant in bloom.  All the rest were still in bud.

Cephalanthera austiniae

The second location is one we try to avoid, a very dark forest floor with a lot of poison oak.  The day we were there we had not only to contend with poor light and poison oak, but with a stiff breeze.  We managed to get some decent photos, however.  At this location, too, we found a lot of plants and almost all of them were in bloom, but that location is a bit lower and warmer than the first.

Cephalanthera austiniae

 The Phantom Orchid is the only North American species in the genus Cephalanthera and the only species in the genus that is mycoheterotrophic, without chlorophyll or leaves, and depending for nourishment on a soil fungus.  It is bone white and stands out in the forest in which it grows like a phantom.  It is very rare in most of its range but very common in the locations we visited.

Along with the Phantoms we found the Striped Coralroot, Corallorhiza striata, still blooming.  These were nearing the end of their bloom season, but we found some nice examples in both the pinkish and yellowish color forms.  This was at a higher elevation than at home and so the season is later - they are long finished in the areas we visited nearer home.

Corallorhiza striata var. striata

We also found the Western Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis, including the tan-stemmed form, fma. intermedia and the yellow-stemmed form, fma. aurea, the latter just starting to bloom.  Among all these there was one very strange pink-lipped form, very different from anything we've seen before (the lip is usually white).

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. intermedia

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. aurea

Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis (pink-lipped form)

More Coralroots

We visited recently a site on Whidbey Island where we had seen the Western Coralroot, Corallorhiza mertensiana, many times before, but we did not find very many of them this year, though enough to photograph.  These showed the usual rainbow of colors with pink, purple, white, tan and yellow stems and endless variation in the spotting of the flowers and coloring of the lip.

Corallorhiza mertensiana

The endless variation in the color of this species makes it rather pointless to name different forms, but the light-stemmed forms have been named and are identified as Corallorhiza mertensiana fma. pallida.  We found plenty of these mixed in with the darker-stemmed forms, different color forms often growing in the same clump of plants, and all on rather barren forest floors.

Corallorhiza mertensiana fma. pallida

It is interesting that in the mountains the native orchids seem more abundant this year, but near the coast the orchids have been fare fewer.  Perhaps in both cases this is due to the warm winter and early spring.  A friend has suggested that at higher elevations the warmer temperatures have encouraged the growth of the mycorhizal fungus associated with these orchids.

At the same site we found a few stems of the Ozette Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata var. ozettensis, an unspotted form and a recent discovery.  We had seen it at other sites on Whidbey Island but this was the first time we found it growing with the Western Coralroots.  We'll be visiting another site in the near future to photograph it there, a site where it grows in abundance.

Corallorhiza maculata var. ozettensis