RHH's photos with the keyword: stream orchid

These Stream Orchids were photographed along the Illinois River in Oregon. They are the only native Epipactis species and are also known as the Chatterbox because the lip "chatters" in the lightest breeze, moving up and down. The lower flower has a bee on it which later crawled under the column and flew away with the pollinia.

After traveling down the Oregon coast and spending time in the Redwoods, we spent another few days orchid hunting in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. These were a few of the orchids we found, this the Stream Orchid or Chatterbox, so named for its moveable lip, along the Little Illinois River in southwestern Oregon.

Known as the Stream Orchid because it always grows near water, or Chatterbox because of its hinged, moveable lip, Epipactis gigantea is rare elsewhere in Washington, but grows by the thousands in the area we visited on our recent trip. It is the only native Epipactis species in North America, though there is one other species that has naturalized across the United States and Canada. The photos were taken on the first day of our trip amid a cloud of mosquitoes and in a very wet and swampy location.

These are the masses of Stream Orchids we photographed in a wet and swampy area in Dry Falls State Park in Washington. Rare elsewhere in the state they grow my the thousands here.

Epipactis gigantea, the Stream Orchid or Chatterbox, is the only species in the genus that is native to North America. Rare in Washington, it grows by the thousands in the area we visited on our recent trip.

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.

This is another photo of Epipactis gigantea, the Stream Orchid or Chatterbox, but in this case a double flower. There are two lips (the orange-brown parts at the bottom of the flower) , two columns (the yellow hooked pieces inside the flower) and four petals (the flat pink parts at the top of the flower). This is a mutation but probably not permanent since there was only this one of several flowers on the plant that looked like this, but interesting nevertheless. It was photographed in Olympic National Park.

This photo was taken by my wife and shows the Stream Orchid or Chatterbox, Epipactis gigantea, in situ. A close-up shot of the flowers is included below. This is a typical setting for the species, near a river or lake, sometimes so close that it is almost in the water. The photo was taken in Olympic National Park and I thought she did a fine job on this and liked the inclusion of the blackbird in the shot.

This was the second native orchid we photographed near Crescent Lake on the first day of our trip to the Olympics. This is the Stream Orchid, Epipactis gigantea. It is the only Epipactis native to North America though we have another European species in the area that has colonized itself. The Stream Orchid is also known as the Chatterbox because of its moveable lip which bobbles up and down in the slightest breeze.

Known as the Stream Orchid for its propensity for wetter areas and also as the Chatterbox for its moveable lip which "chatters" up and down in the slightest breeze, Epipactis gigantea is one of our more colorful native orchids. It is fairly rare in Washington but can be quite common in some areas. This was photographed in southern Oregon and a close look will show a small bee which spent a great deal of time working its way under the anther cap of the upper flower and which finally carried away the pollinia. nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/07/stream-orchids-and-western-ladies.html

This very showy native orchid, Epipactis gigantea, is known as the Chatterbox because of its hinged mobile lip which moves up and down like a talking mouth in the slightest breeze. It is also known as the stream orchid for its love of wet places. These were photographed near Crescent Lake in Olympic National Park last summer. Further information and more pictures can be found at: nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2010/09/c...