Eighth Orchid of the Season and Others

We traveled recently to eastern Washington and made several stops for orchids and hiking both on the way and on the way home.  We visited several sites on the east slopes of the Cascades and another site in north-central Washington.  We had our first look of the season at the Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana and found both forms, the white-lipped and the pink-lipped (fma. rosea) forms.  We also found for the first time a plant with two flowers, fma. biflora.

Calypso bulbosa var. americana

 Calypso bulbosa var. americana fma. biflora

Calypso bulbosa var. americana fma. rosea

On the way east we stopped at a site where the other variety, the Western fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis was still blooming, though we found only a few plants.  It is nice to see both varieties at the same time and see once again the differences that separate these varieties, In this case, a white beard and a spotted lip.  We were a little disappointed, however, that there were so few still blooming, but that's due to a very early season and a very warm spring.

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis

We visited several other sites looking for the first Lady's Slippers of the season, but they were not blooming yet.  We did find a lot of Western Spotted Coralroots at one site, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis, and found both the brown-stemmed and red-stemmed forms, fma. intermedia and fma. punicea.  We took some pictures, but this is a species we see so often and in so many places that oftentimes we do not even bother to photograph it.

Corallorhiza macular var. occidentalis

 Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. punicea

 Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. intermedia

Seventh Orchid of the Season and a First

Today we found our seventh orchid of the season and it was a first for us.  For several years we have gone in the spring to see the Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana.  That variety grows only to the east of the Cascade Mountains but is found from there to the east coast of the USA and Canada.  We have to travel across the mountains to eastern Washington to see it, therefore, and the trip is not one we make on the spur of the moment.  The variety that grows in our area, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis, the Western Fairy Slipper, grows only to the west of the Rocky Mountains and we see it often.

These two varieties are very distinct as the pictures show, but between the Cascades and the Rockies their ranges overlap and there is a natural hybrid of the two varieties, very different from either.  That natural hybrid is known as Kostiuk's Hybrid Calypso, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae (the "x" indicating a natural hybrid).  Along with the photos of this hybrid I've included photos of both the Eastern and Western Fairy Slippers for comparison and it is obvious that this hybrid has characteristics of both, the yellowish beard of the Eastern Fairy Slipper and the spotted lip of the Western Fairy Slippe.

Looking for this hybrid we had two sets of GPS coordinates to work with.  We found one plant of the hybrid at the first location but did not find it at the second.  We did, however, find one other flower and found it as we walked several miles of trails examining every plant of the hundreds that were still in flower.  The first flower we found was starting to go by and the lip was darkening and curling and we did not even recognize it as the hybrid at first.  The second flower was fresh and clearly identifiable as the hybrid.  We were very excited to find it after so many failures and on a beautiful day when photography was easy.

Kostiuk's Hybrid Calypso, Calypso bulbosa x kostiukiae
(yellow beard and spotted lip)

Western Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis

(white beard, spotted lip)

Eastern Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa var. americana

(yellow beard, unspotted lip)