RHH's photos with the keyword: elongata

This is a native orchid that we have seen many times, but this was photographed in the fields near our house. It is the Long-spurred Piperia, Piperia or Platanthera elongata. I've posted it as part of series of photos of plants, birds, insects and wildlife that we've photographed in the area around our home

This is a native orchid that we have seen many times, but this was photographed in the fields near our house. It is the Long-spurred Piperia, Piperia or Platanthera elongata. I've posted it as part of series of photos of plants, birds, insects and wildlife that we've photographed in the area around our home

This is a native orchid that we have seen many times, but this was photographed in the fields near our house. It is the Long-spurred Piperia, Piperia or Platanthera elongata. I've posted it as part of series of photos of plants, birds, insects and wildlife that we've photographed in the area around our home. The inset photos show it growing in the brush and show a close-up of the flowers.

This was the third orchid we found on our trip to the Olympics, the Long-spurred Piperia, Piperia elongata. We found many of these along the Humes Ranch trail in the Elwha Valley, an area of Olympic National Park we had not hiked before. These flower spikes are a a foot to a foot and a half tall (30-45cm) and by the time the flowers open the leaves at the base of the plant have withered away leaving the flower spike standing alone.

Here finally is a new photo, this one of Piperia elongata, one of our native orchids and one found only here in the Pacific Northwest. The plant is named for the flowers' long spur or nectary, with the green color of the flowers a distinguishing feature of this species. It was photographed on Goose Rock near Deception Pass where we found two other species of Piperia blooming at the same time and often together. The plant grows up to two feet (60 cm) tall and the flowers with the spur are over an inch long (3 cm). The plant's leaves have withered by the time it blooms. nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2013/08/seventeenth-week-of-native-orchid.html

Piperia elongata, the Long-spurred Piperia, is another of our native orchids, this example photographed at Goose Rock, near Deception Pass. The plant can be and in this case was around two feet tall and flowers around an inch in size. The nectar can be seen in the long, semi-transparent spur, that is the distinguishing feature of the flowers. By the time the plant flowers, the leaves, which lie close to the ground, have withered away. This species is often mistaken for Pipera transversa, which it does resemble in color and flower shape, but that species has a spur that sticks out horizontally and is usually a smaller plant than this species. Both bloom, though, at the same time of the year and often in the same area, so it is not surprising that they are confused. They were both blooming at Goose Rock when this photo was taken last summer. nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/09/g...

One more close-up picture of the Long-spurred Piperia, photographed last summer at Goose Rock. There were only a few of these, while Piperia transversa, the Flat-spurred Piperia, was everywhere, but that is what we have experienced elsewhere. This species is far more uncommon than the other similar species. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/09/clayton-bea...