Clustered Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium fasciculatum)
Weldon Wagon Wheel Trail, WA 5/2022.
We nearly passed up this rare orchid, well camouflaged within inches of the trail. This single plant with a pair of intricate nodding slipper flowers was the prize of a blustery May hike on a flower covered ridge just north of the Columbia Gorge. (more…)
Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza striata)
Hamilton Mountain Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA, 4/2015.
We find coral roots, except for this striped species, faithful companions that reward those that closely scan the pine-needle floors throughout the wilderness areas of the Pacific Northwest. (more…)
California Groundcone (Boschniakia strobilacea)
Jacksonville Cemetery, Jacksonville, OR, 4/2018.
We found this parasitic, purple-hued “flower” in a couple wooded locations in an early southern Oregon trip, (more…)
Northern Groundcone (Boschniakia rossica)
Yakutania Point Trail, Skagway, AK, 7/2017.
We found this odd non-green plant in a couple locations in flood-prone Cottonwood-Alder forests outside of Skagway, Alaska. (more…)
Mertens’ Coral Root (Corallorhiza mertensiana)
Iron Mountain, OR, 7/2014.
Much like Spotted Coral Root, only without the spots, this plant is sometime called “Western Coral Root”. (more…)
Candy Stick (Allotropa virgata)
South Prairie Road, Columbia Gorge, WA, 7/2014.
Sometimes called “Sugarstick” or “Barber’s Pole”; this is certainly one of the odder-looking plants we’ve come across. (more…)
Phantom Orchid (Eburophyton austiniae)
King’s Mountain Trail, Tillamook NF, Oregon, 7/2015.
This rare, endangered plant is only found in the rich soils of shady pacific northwest forests. (more…)
Pinesap (Hypopitys monotropa)
Timberline trail near McNeil point, Mount Hood, OR, 8/2014.
Along with Mertens’ Coral Root, one of the more common, and less attractive of the chlorophyll lacking plants in northwest forests. (more…)
Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)
Hamilton Mountain Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA, 7/2014.
Yesterday, we saw over thirty specimens of this supposedly uncommon saprophyte along the first two miles of the Hamilton Mountain trail (along with four Phantom orchids)! (more…)
Spotted Coral Root (Corallorhiza maculata)
Dog Mountain Trail, Columbia Gorge, WA 5/2013.
This so called “saprophyte” of the orchid family is the most common of some 15 types of coral root in North America.
So named because of the root’s (actually a clump of rhizomes) resemblance to a piece of coral.
Pinedrops (Pterospora andromedea)
Fisher Creek Trail, North Cascades N.P. , WA, 8/2012.
Many urn-shaped flowers filled with seeds hang like pendants off a long raceme in this showy saprophyte (a name for plants that derive their nourishment from decaying plant material). (more…)
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