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Idaho Mountain Wildflowers

Orchid Family: Orchidaceae (page 2 of 2)

Western Fairy-slipper, Calypso bulbosa. The fairy-slipper is one of the most colorful of the northern orchids, and--along with ladies' slippers (Cypripedium spp.)--one of the showiest. It is not a rare plant, but it is elusive, for it favors the floor of well shaded, moist, evergreen forests where it blooms in late spring. So far as we are aware, it is not found south of the Clearwater River drainage in Idaho. Lewis and Clark--most likely Meriwether Lewis--discovered this then new-to-science plant blooming along the Lolo Trail and collected one as a specimen on June 16, 1806. The plant shown here was photographed in the DeVoto Grove, west of the Lolo Pass, close to where the explorers found theirs.

Spotted (or summer) coral-root, Corallorhiza (or Corallorhiza) maculata. Coral roots are saprophytes. This one is a relatively common plant, that grows in moist to fairly dry, open shade of forests where its slender reddish-brown stems stand out (left). The flowers with their spotted white lips are striking, but you will need a hand lens to really see them well, true of many of our native orchids with tiny flowers (the photo on the right is considerably larger than life size). Several closely related and quite similar species also grow in Idaho.

Early (or Yellow) coral-root, Corallorhiza trifida. Because the coral-roots--named for the bright red color of their root systems--are saprophytes they lack chlorophyll. Their color ranges from the reddish-brown of the spotted coralroot shown above to the yellowish-white of this plant. Coralroots may be distinguished from other saprophytes such as the pine-drop (Monotropa hypopithis, a member of the Indian-pipe family, Monotropaceae, shown elsewhere on these pages) by their tiny orchid-like flowers. This plant's species name, trifida, means three-lobed, describing the lobed end of the flower lip.

The Western, or green-leaf rattlesnake plantain, Goodyera oblongifolia, catches the eye only because its several, deep-green, basal leaves have a central white stripe and mottling; it is otherwise a plain little plant. Presumably the common name, "rattlesnake plantain," comes from a fancied resemblance of the leave's markings to those of rattlesnakes. Whitish flowers form a loose cluster at the top of the plant's stem; later in the summer one sees only the rather oblong leaves and a dried stem. A close look at the tiny flowers reveals that their upper sepals are fused to the two lateral petals to form a "hood" that covers a lower "lip." This little orchid grows in dry, well shaded woods. The generic name Goodyera honors an early English botanist, John Goodyer (1692-1664).

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	Western Fairy-slipper, Calypso bulbosa. The fairy-slipper is one of the most colorful of the northern orchids, and--along with ladies' slippers (Cypripedium spp.)--one of the showiest. It is not a rare plant, but it is elusive, for it favors the floor of well shaded, moist, evergreen forests where it blooms in late spring. So far as we are aware, it is not found south of the Clearwater River drainage in Idaho. Lewis and Clark--most likely Meriwether Lewis--discovered this then new-to-science plant blooming along the Lolo Trail and collected one as a specimen on June 16, 1806. The plant shown here was photographed in the DeVoto Grove, west of the Lolo Pass, close to where the explorers found theirs.
	Spotted (or summer) coral-root, Corallorhiza (or *Corallorhiza)* maculata. Coral roots are saprophytes. This one is a relatively common plant, that grows in moist to fairly dry, open shade of forests where its slender reddish-brown stems stand out (left). The flowers with their spotted white lips are striking, but you will need a hand lens to really see them well, true of many of our native orchids with tiny flowers (the photo on the right is considerably larger than life size). Several closely related and quite similar species also grow in Idaho.
	Early (or Yellow) coral-root, *Corallorhiza* *trifida. Because the coral-roots--named for the bright red color of their root systems--are saprophytes they lack chlorophyll. Their color ranges from the reddish-brown of the spotted coralroot shown above to the yellowish-white of this plant. Coralroots may be distinguished from other saprophytes such as the pine-drop (Monotropa hypopithis, a member of the Indian-pipe family, Monotropaceae, shown elsewhere on these pages) by their tiny orchid-like flowers. This plant's species name, trifida*, means three-lobed, describing the lobed end of the flower lip.
	The Western, or green-leaf rattlesnake plantain, Goodyera oblongifolia, catches the eye only because its several, deep-green, basal leaves have a central white stripe and mottling; it is otherwise a plain little plant. Presumably the common name, "rattlesnake plantain," comes from a fancied resemblance of the leave's markings to those of rattlesnakes. Whitish flowers form a loose cluster at the top of the plant's stem; later in the summer one sees only the rather oblong leaves and a dried stem. A close look at the tiny flowers reveals that their upper sepals are fused to the two lateral petals to form a "hood" that covers a lower "lip." This little orchid grows in dry, well shaded woods. The generic name Goodyera honors an early English botanist, John Goodyer (1692-1664).