Epipactis gigantea

This photograph helps explain where I've been the last few days. I've been orchid hunting with friends on the northern end of the Olympic Peninsula mostly in Olympic National Park. I left early Thursday morning and met a friend from Edmonton and his son and spent the day with him, taking him to different orchid sites on the Olympic Peninsula and searching for new sites. I met him again Friday and we were joined by a friend from eastern Washington and another friend from Minnesota for another day of orchid hunting. Today after bidding all of them farewell, I led a field trip for the Washington Native Orchid Society, visiting again some of the same sites. The summer has been very hot and dry and the orchids were not as frequent as usual, but we ended up seeing eight species in bloom and found a number of others that were either finished or not yet ready to bloom. This orchid, though near the end of its blooming season, was the star of the show. It is the only Epipactis native to North America and is known as the Stream Orchid on account of its love for river and lake sides, often growing with its feet on the very edge of the water. It is also known as the Chatterbox for its moveable lip with "chatters" up and down in the slightest breeze.