RHH's photos with the keyword: neottia

The Heart-leaved Twayblade, one of our native orchids, is a tiny plant that would probably not even be noticed unless one was looking for it. This example was photographed along the Baker Lake trail in the North Cascades.

The Northern Twayblade is such a tiny orchid that it often goes unnoticed. We were looking for it and found it at various places along the Berg Lake trail. It is found in the northern part of Washington state but is very rare there. It is common further north.

Along Berg Lake we found hundreds of these tiny orchids, the Heart-leaved Twayblade and its relative the Northern Twayblade (see inset). The Heart-leaved Twayblade comes in two color forms, red and green and is often no taller than 8 cm.

Along Berg Lake we found hundreds of these tiny orchids, the Heart-leaved Twayblade and its relative the Northern Twayblade (see inset). The Heart-leaved Twayblade comes in two color forms, red and green (see inset) and is often no taller than 8 cm. Interestingly, this species is also found in Europe.

Here's a native orchid we found Monday while out doing wildflower photography. Usually we find this in the mountains later in the season, but there is one location at sea level where we always find a few plants of the Heart-leaved Twayblade, Listera cordata var. nephrophylla, now known as Neottia cordata and the same species that can be found in Europe. It has a plain green form and this reddish form and it is a tiny thing, in this case only six inches tall (15 cm) with 1 cm flowers.

This is the fourth native orchid we've photographed this season. We had a horrible time photographing them, though. It was breezy and they were tucked in between two fallen logs.Usually we find them higher in the mountains, but there is one location we know where it grows at a very low elevation and always flowers there early in the season, but only a few plants (six this season). This is the reddish form of the species. There is also a plain green form. The species is tiny, the whole plant with its flower spike six to eight inches or less (15 cm) and the flowers less than half an inch (1 cm). Its current botanical name is Neottia cordata var. nephrophylla.

Our state, the state of Washington, is believed to have 39 species and varieties of native orchids, some very rare. At the beginning of the summer there were two of them I had not seen, though not all of the others within the state. This rather unremarkable plant was one of the two I had not seen. It is the Broad-lipped Twayblade, Listera or Neottia convallarioides. I finally was able to see it in the area of Mount Rainier last week after making two trips to find it. I had visited the area in previous years but had been too early and had not recognized it. The plants were six to eight inches tall and the flowers about three quarters of an inch. The genus name Neottia is its most recent classification, and the species name comes from the supposed resemblance of the leaves to those of the Convallaria plant (Lily-of-the-Valley). The plant is rather rare, though its range extends from Alaska to Newfoundland and from California to Michigan. There is now only one native orchid I have not seen and we are going to look for it tomorrow along the Columbia River. We have several reported locations and though we have looked there previously, have better information this time. It is a natural hybrid, Spiranthes diluvialis, one of the Ladies'-tresses. It blooms at this time of the year and if we find it will have seen all of the state native orchids over a period of about 10 years. nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/2010/11/broad-lipped-twayblade-listera.html