A Native Orchid Tour of Washington

One of the highlights of the summer was an opportunity to show off some of our native orchids.  Friends from Germany were planning an extended trip to the USA and wanted an orchid tour of Washington as part of their trip, so all last winter we were making arrangements, they for the whole of their trip and I for the small part of their trip that involved me.  We agreed that we would spend three days together and I would show them as many of the native orchids as were in bloom.  In the end that amounted to 17 different species and varieties, almost half of our native orchids.

I met them in the Columbia River Gorge where we began by hiking at Dog Mountain.

There we saw:

1.  Piperia transversa (Flat-spurred Piperia)

just beginning to bloom and a species we would see again at Deception Pass

2.  Cephalanthera austiniae (Phantom Orchid)

this was one they particularly wanted to see

3.  Goodyera oblongifolia (Giant Rattlesnake Orchis)

not yet in bloom

4.  Corallorhiza striata var. vreelandii (Vreeland's Striped Coralroot)

a few plants at the end of their bloom season

5.  Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata fma. aurea (Spotted Coralroot)

the rare yellow-stemmed form of this species

6.  Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata fma. rubra (Spotted Coralroot)

the more common red-stemmed form of the species

From Dog Mountain we traveled to Catherine Creek, also in the Columbia gorge.

We went there to see:

7.  Spiranthes porrifolia (Western Ladies'-tresses)

very rare in Washington and at the peak of its bloom season

Leaving the gorge we traveled to Brooks Memorial State Park near Goldendale,

and saw:

8.  Piperia unalascensis (Alaskan Piperia)

we were looking for the Mountain Lady's Slipper but found this instead

Traveling further north we visited two sites in Blewett Pass, south of Leavenworth.

We camped a night there and also found:

9.  Cypripedium montanum (Mountain Lady's Slipper)

hundreds of these

10.  Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata (Tall White Northern Bog Orchis)

just starting to bloom

From eastern Washington we moved closer to home and visited Deception Pass on Whidbey Island,

where we found:

11.  Piperia elegans (Elegant Piperia)

already in bloom, though usually quite a bit later

At another site on Whidbey Island we found another species,

this time:

12.  Corallorhiza maculata var. ozettensis (Ozette Coralroot)

this was only just hanging on but an abundance of Indian Pipes made up for their scarceness

The third and last day of our trip we visited Goat Mountain in the North Cascades.

There we found:

13.  Corallorhiza mertensiana (Western Coralroot)

in bloom so late only at these higher altitudes

14.  Listera cordata var. nephrophylla (Western Heart-leaved Twayblade)

not a lot of them but enough to make a fair show

15.  Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis fma. intermedia (Western Spotted Coralroot)

only a couple of plants of this early-blooming variety

16.  Corallorhiza trifida (Early Coralroot)

this one familiar to our friends since it also grows in Europe

17.  Listera banksiana (Northwestern Twayblade)

after searching hard I finally found a couple of plants in bloom

We very much enjoy orchid hunting but it is even more exciting to be able to show someone else.
Martin has a blog of his own at which you can see some of the native orchids
of Germany and Europe, and some of these orchids as well.

http://www.lichtschnapper.de/blog/

The Olympics - First Day

The last day of July and the first day of August we spent in the north part of Olympic National Park orchid hunting, something we do around that time every year.

We found plenty of orchids but also found that the season was much much farther along than usual with some species already finished nearly two weeks ahead of their usual blooming time.

However, the Olympics are worth visiting for the scenery as well as the orchids and we had a very good two days there, staying overnight in Port Angeles on the north side of the park.

We began our trip, after the ferry ride from Coupeville to Port Townsend and a short drive to Port Angeles, at Crescent Lake where we looked for two orchids along the shore of the lake.

One of the orchids is the Stream Orchid or Chatterbox (for its moveable lip), Epipactis gigantea.  It was well past its prime but we found plenty of decent flowers left to photograph.

The other, the Elegant Piperia, Piperia elegans, was also past its prime but still nice and we not only photographed it but a crab spider lurking on one of the flower spikes.

I've recently been trying to become more expert in identifying native trees and this I believe is the Douglas Fir, also photographed at Crescent Lake, as was the Cluster Thistle.
 

From there we headed up the Elwha Valley where a dam is being removed and the area restored to its natural state.  There we hiked the Humes Ranch trail to several abandoned homesteads.

Near one of the cabins I was able to get pictures of a Juba Skipper, Hesperia juba, on a Cluster Thistle.  Also somewhere nearby we photographed the wildflower, Pipsissewa, as well.

We found two orchids there in abundance, the Long-spurred Piperia, Piperia elongata, and the Giant Rattlesnake Orchis, Goodyera oblongifolia.

This was an area of the park we had not visited before. We very much enjoyed a beautiful day and the hike through the open forest above the Elwha River.

On our way out we stopped for another brief hike to Madison Falls, but photography was very difficult there on account of the bright sunlight and deep shadows

Later in the day as the weather began to change we visited Hurricane Ridge and to see the orchids, scenery and wildflowers there.  There, too, we found the season well advanced.

We stopped first to see the long-spurred variety of the White Bog Orchis, Platanthera dilatata var. leuchostchys (we would also see another variety of this species).

The Slender Bog Orchis, Platanthera stricta, was finished in most places but near the top of Hurricane Ridge we found some good specimens.

In the same area we found a few plants of a hybrid of the previous two species, the White Bog Orchis and the Slender Bog Orchis, Platanthera x estesii, with its whitish-green flowers.

At the next stop I was able to get photos of the Field Crescent, Phyciodes campestris.  We spent quite a bit of time at this stop for the orchids and other wildflowers.

There were more of the White Bog Orchis, the long-spurred variety and the medium-spurred variety, Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata.

We also found the Great Hedge-nettle, Stachys chamisonis var. cooleyae, The carnivorous Common Butterwort, Pinguilcula vulgaris, and the Seep-spring Monkey-flower, Mimulus guttatus.

One wildflower I had not seen before was the very tall Mountain Larkspur, Delphinium glaucum, with its very dark, not widely-opened flowers.

Another beauty new to me was the Yellow Fireweed, Epilobium luteum, which we found growing in wet areas and so pale that the reference to "yellow" did not seem correct.

We also found a few of the Cascades Penstemon, Penstemon serrulatus, still blooming, but these, too, were showing signs of age.

Near the top and at the top of Hurricane Ridge we found another orchid, the Alaskan Piperia, Piperia unalascensis, in its dwarf form found only in this area.

The wildflowers were at their best at the top of Hurricane Ridge and we photographed there the Harsh Paintbrush, Castilleja hispida and the Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea.

Another new species for me was the Mountain Owl's Clover, Orthocarpus imbricatus, spectacularly beautiful and everywhere at the top of Hurricane Ridge.

Others were the common Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia, Common Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, Western Bistort, Polygonum bistortoides and the Olympic delphinium, Delphinium glareosum.

 The Columbia Lily, Lilium columbianum, also grows in abundance at the top of Hurricane Ridge, but in a very dwarf form.  These, too, were still blooming.

We also took photos of the Mountain Hemlock with its beautiful purple cones, in this case exuding sticky crystals of sap.  These too were growing at the top of Hurricane Ridge.

 

My wife was able to get quite a few pictures of Black-tailed Deer, but since we were in an area where I could not leave the car, I had to be satisfied with her pictures.

 

The day now ending, we headed out of the park for the town of Port Angeles where we had our supper and a night's sleep (we have our van set up for sleeping and spent a comfortable night there).