Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata

I'm going to be posting pictures of some of the native orchids we've seen this spring and summer. We've had quite a bit of opportunity to get out and have seen again many of the natives as well as some new species.

This was photographed in Washington Park near Anacortes, a park that receives very high use but has a varied and interesting wildflower population including quite a number of the native orchid species. This is the Spotted Coralroot.

The Coralroots are a group of native orchids that are saprophytes, without chlorophyll and leaves, and which get their nourishment from decaying matter in the soil. They were especially abundant this spring and summer.

There are several varieties of this species, and I am not certain that I've correctly identified the variety since the differences are primarily in the shape of the lip. There are also a number of different color forms, this being the brownish form.

The plants are 18-24 inches tall and the flowers from 1/2 inch to an inch in size. They grow in dry, open woodlands, usually in rather shady areas. For more pictures and in formation see: nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/06/c....