Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Corallorhiza maculata

All three photos posted this morning, 18 June 2016, were taken yesterday, when i was out on a hike for the day, NW of Calgary, in the Benchlands area. The walk was in the Meadow Creek area, Ghost River Watershed, and our leaders were Heinz Unger (from Benchlands) and Gus Yaki. Just remembered that my two friends and I spotted a Red Fox at the meeting place, while we were waitng for everyone else to arrive! "Benchlands is a hamlet in Alberta within the Municipal District of Bighorn No. 8.[ The Ghost River is located on the hamlet's south side, while Highway 40 borders the north side." From Wikipedia. The trail took us through forest and across open meadows, with a wonderful view of the distant mountains the closer we got to our destination. I only took a few photos, including of Spotted Coralroot, a beautiful wild orchid that has tiny flowers and grows mostly in montane woodlands. I think this was the highlight for me, as I rarely get to see it. Very easy to see where this little wild Orchid got its common name : ) 'Corallorhiza maculata, or spotted coralroot, is a North American coralroot orchid flower. Varieties are also known as western coralroot and summer coralroot. It is found from Mexico to Canada, mostly in woodlands. This orchid is a myco-heterotroph; it lacks chlorophyll and gets food by parasitizing the mycelium of fungi in the family Russulaceae. The rhizome and lower stem are often knotted into branched coral shapes. The stem is usually red or brown in color, but occasionally comes in a light yellow or cream color. There are no leaves and no photosynthetic green tissues. The stalklike stems bear dark red scales and intricate orchid flowers. The flowers are small and emerge regularly from all sides of the stem. The sepals are dark red or brown tinged with purple, long and pointed. The side petals are reddish, and the lip petal is bright clean white with deep red spots. It is usually lobed or toothed on the side and 7–10 mm. In some varieties, the lip is plain white without spots. Several Native American groups historically used the stems dried and brewed as a tea for such maladies as colds, pneumonia, and skin irritation." From Wikipedia. Thanks so much for the ride, Sandy - glad you were able to come at the last minute. Also glad that the weather was kind to us, starting off rather chilly and quite windy in the morning, but gradually warming up to around 21C later in the day. Thanks so much, Heinz, for arranging for us to explore this private land and accompanying us on the hike - always a treat.

Took this photo of a tiny, wild orchid three days ago, on 3 July 2015, when four of us were lucky enough to visit and botanize the farm belonging to Meghan Vesey and Kwesi Haizel. This 53 acre farm, Akesi Farm, is a 90 minute drive from downtown Calgary and is near the town of Sundre, NW of Calgary. It is permaculture based with future crops of eggs, mushrooms, fruits and nuts. Hard to believe that this beautiful place has only belonged to this young, hardworking, enthusiastic couple since November 2014. A tremendous amount of work, thought and planning has already gone into adding to what was already there, with a little help from family and friends. Meghan walked with us to show us the different parts of the acreage - forest and grassland. We found this Spotted Coralroot and also Striped Coralroot - two lovely (small) wild orchids. Everything seen was listed, including plants, birds, fungi, insects, animals and so on. This list will then be given to Meghan and Kwesi, along with any photos taken while we were there for the day. We are always happy to visit someone's land and compile a very detailed list of our findings for them. It's always a win/win situation - we enjoy what we are doing and love to explore a new location, and the owner ends up with a record of what was found on their property. The weather was beautiful, though still much too hot for me. Having been out on several outdoor trips recently in very hot weather, as well as being home in a place that felt like an oven, I really was not feeling all that great and perhaps did a bit too much walking. I do have to also mention that we had the company of their three gorgeous dogs, and one cat. The latter followed us when we were walking around one of the ponds near the house, obviously hunting for "something". At one point, she disappeared a short way up one of the trees, only to come flying out of a few seconds later. Judging by her behaviour afterwards, I suspected she had been stung in the eye by one of the bees and, sure enough, that's what had happened, poor thing. We were treated royally when we sat down outside to thoroughly enjoy and appreciate a delicious lunch of different salads and goodies - and cold lemonade that was more than welcome! Thank you so much, Meghan, Kwesi and Meghan's mother, Maurita, for all the work you put into preparing this feast for us - most generous! We all wish you the very best with your endeavours. With such hard work and obvious enthusiasm, I'm sure you will do well. On the way back to Calgary, we stopped and walked down to the Elkton Bog. I had been there before, maybe a couple of times. We wanted to see how wet or dry the area was, at the same time seeing a few plants including carnivorous Sundew and Cotton Grass. This walk on extremely uneven ground (and wet in many places) finished me off for the day - I was utterly, totally, completely exhausted!!

We came across several patches of this beautiful, tiny, wild orchid, during our three days in Waterton Lakes National Park. It's a very slender plant, making it a bit of a challenge to photograph. This particular plant was seen along the Crandell Lake Trail, near the edge of the path, on 21 June 2015. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corallorhiza_maculata I was so lucky to be invited to join friends Sandy and Heide on a three-day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park, from 19-21 (inclusive) June 2015. We met up with other members of the Alberta Native Plant Council for their annual Botany Alberta weekend. Most people who attended stayed at the Crooked Creek Campground, a 5.6 km drive east of the Waterton Park Gate on Highway 5, but my friends and I stayed at the Crandell Mountain Lodge on the edge of Waterton town. The ANPC people had a list of species that they hoped to find, and they were very successful. Our stay down south overlapped the annual Waterton Wildflower Festival, but we came across very few people on our various drives and hikes. Needless to say, I was extremely fortunate to spend three days with people who are very knowledgeable about plants and many other things. This meant that I got to see many wildflower species, including several that were new to me, such as the gorgeous Mariposa Lily. It was one of the flowers that was on my Wish List - and there were hundreds of them to be seen! I had also never seen the spectacular Bear Grass and I was so thrilled that there were still several plants in bloom. Absolutely made my day! Our two main hikes of the weekend were the Bertha Lake Trail as far as the Bertha Falls (on 20 June), and the Crandell Lake Trail (on 21 June). Makes me smile when a described "short, easy hike" in a book or on the Internet turns into a full day of exploration along the trail, taking hours to reach the destination, though returning to the cars in a much shorter time. Our walks/hikes are very slow-paced with endless stops to look at/for plants and to take photos. This makes it possible for me to go along. Crandell Lake from the Crandell Campground trailhead: Return distance 4.0 km (2.4 miles), elevation gain 150 metres (492'), hiking time 1.5 hours (we took all day!). Bertha Falls from the townsite trailhead: Return distance 5.6 km (3.4 miles), elevation gain 150 metres (492'), hiking time 1.5 hours (again, we took all day). For me, this hike felt much further than it was! The wind made photographing plants a real challenge, including the beautiful Mariposa Lilies in the meadow along the Hay Barn road. Trying to catch a quick shot when a flower is blowing in and out of the viewfinder is not easy! Unfortunately, I'm no longer able to get down and take macro shots (my lens needs to be about 4" away from the subject), so my photos have to be telemacro. I've been trying to find an online list of plant species in Waterton Park, but have so far been out of luck. I do have the book, "Wildflowers of Waterton Park" by Jacinthe Lavoie and Ian Wilson, which has an Index of Plant names, but I was hoping to find a list that I could print out. It's going to take me ages to type descriptions for the various photos I'll slowly be posting, and I will no doubt keep adding new bits and pieces over time. There is just so much information I want to add, but my descriptions are already way too long. Also, my photos of quite a few of the plants will be posted for the use of ANPC members and are, unfortunately, really poor images. Need them added to my Waterton Lakes album, so please bear with me : ) Luckily, you don't even need to look at them.

Wasn't sure whether to post this supermacro shot (taken with Raynox 250) of a very tiny Spotted Coralroot flower or not, as I am not a big fan of very blurry images, LOL! However, if you look carefully, you'll notice that the "important" part, that gives this teeny wild orchid it's common name, is sharper than the rest of the photo. I rarely get to see Spotted Coralroot, so it was great to see it in the wooded area at the Priddis Greens Golf Course that we botanized the other day. Several of us had a long, but so enjoyable, day out south of the city today. We were lucky enough to be given the chance to make a return visit to Janel B. and her family's ranch, near Millarville. A delightful family who make us all feel so welcome! We had such an interesting day, walking though the forest that is part of their land, recording all the flora and fauna that we saw. Best of all, we were accompanied for the whole day by two youngsters: their son, Trystan, and a close friend of his, Casey (sorry guys, I need to check on the spelling of both your names!). Talk about delightful kids, and very helpful in helping to find all sorts of things in the woods, especially fungi and bugs!!! I found myself wishing that all kids could grow up in such a place and being so in-touch with nature! Wonderful to see! Thank you both for your much enjoyed company and for all your help, both of you! I suspect you will both sleep really well tonight - I've just woken up from falling asleep in front of the TV this early evening! Trystan, if you read this, I haven't had time yet to go through my photos from today, but will very slowly get a few of the better ones (if there are any, LOL) added to Flickr. Thank you from all of us for a lovely day! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corallorhiza_maculata

It was a real treat to come across a few stems of this rare, wild orchid when we botanized someone's property two days ago, south west of the city, near Millarville. It has been sighted at about four locations in Calgary, but I don't know if the plant still appears in these places. This photo is a much enlarged view of just one of the several very small flowers that grow on each stem.

It's rather difficult to make a photogenic photo of these small, rare, red stems, but I did want a record of what a whole plant looks like, especially after posting the extremely enlarged photo below a few days ago. A friend came across a little cluster of these small, brilliant red stems on a walk in the forest. We weren't sure what they were at first, but then we came across another cluster that had several teeny flowers open. What a thrill to realize that these tiny, wild Orchids were the Spotted Coralroot. Thanks for finding these, David! The stems above were maybe 4"-6" tall, so perhaps you can imagine how tiny an individual flower is. Seen on someone's acreage west of Millarville (south of Calgary) the other day.