RHH's photos with the keyword: hill

Dedicated to GLYNDWR2, who wondered why I had no pictures of his beautiful Wales in my United Kingdom and Ireland collection. More to follow.

The Western Coralroot is another species in the genus Corallorhiza (I posted a picture of another species yesterday). This species is in bloom now in our area, finished at lower elevations but just starting to bloom in the mountains. These were photographed on Hoypus Hill on the north end of Whidbey Island near Cornet Bay. The Coralroots are leafless and without chlorophyll and get their nourishment from decaying matter in the soil. nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/07/c...

My wife an I spent the day hiking and doing photography on Whidbey Island. We visited several locations including the forested grounds of the Au Sable Institute near Coupeville, the trails at Hoypus Hill, overlooking Cornet Bay, and the trails at Deception Pass and Goose Rock. We went to the Au Sable Institute to see the Spotted and Ozette Coralroots (the former were in full bloom and the latter were not yet blooming, but we also found one other orchid in bloom, the Heart-leaved Twayblade). We went to Hoypus Hill to see if the Western Coralroots were blooming (they were not). We went to Deception Pass and Goose Rock just to see what we could find, orchids or otherwise, and found plenty to photograph especially on the balds of Goose Rock. This picture was taken on Hoypus Hill. My wife was photographing the one open flower we found on the Western Coralroots. I figured I would come back in a few weeks and see them fully opened, and wandered about looking for other things to photograph. I love the unfurling fronds of the ferns and began taking pictures of some of them, especially the curled tips, hoping to catch a bit of their unique beauty. This is one of them, which I cannot identify (I am hopeless with ferns), is posted pretty much SOOC, though I did increase the contrast slightly. If anyone can identify the fern I'd be very pleased, but that may be quite difficult without being able to see the whole plant.

This was taken on an afternoon walk in Sehome Hill Arboretum in Bellingham, adjacent to the campus of Western Washington University. It is not an arboretum in the true sense of the word, but a 180 acre park covered with second growth forest and with much of the native flora preserved. We found two Coralroots on our hike, this, the Striped Coralroot, as well as the Western Spotted Coralroot. This we found in only one location, the other in quite a number of locations along the trails, though if we had had more time I'm sure we could have found more. Like all Coralroots, these are leafless, without chlorophyll, and live off decaying plant material in the soil (they are mycotropic). This species has another variety with much smaller flowers that is much more rare and not as showy. nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/05/t...

I am fascinated by the endless variety of ferns and fantastic shapes of the new fronds as they unfurl. Living here in Washington, we have plenty opportunity to see them and photograph them. This photo was taken on Hoypus Hill in Deception Pass State Park on a hike with my wife and while I was waiting for her to finish up with whatever she was photographing. I do not know, however, which fern this is and would appreciate an ID. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/06/whidbey-isl...