Any Hue But Blue

Day 254: I say jokingly that Corallorhiza mertensiana comes in every hue but blue, and that isn't as much of a stretch as it sounds. I've seen them uniformly magenta-purple, so deep that the darker veins could barely be distinguished. Others have been coppery-brown or a greenish-bronze. I've even seen them so green, you'd have mistaken them for a giant economy size C. trifida if it hadn't been for the shape of the flower. Recently, Arnie (I'm sure you all know who I mean by now without me having to remind you that he's the Park's Plant Ecologist with whom I have taken some memorably muddy field trips)...Arnie went hiking out of Ohanapecosh Campground (an area known for its mycoheterotrophic diversity) and came across some specimens which were mostly yellow. He sent me a photo and a line of question marks, from which I inferred that he wanted a second opinion. I laughed, and sent him back a note: "Let me know when you find a blue one." Shortly thereafter, Joe Dreimiller and I made a trip on the same trail system. Yellows dominated.

For those of you who might be wondering, the flower's morphology (shape) is distinctly different in each of the four species of Corallorhiza we find in the Pacific Northwest. Mertensiana has narrow side petals, the thinnest of the four. It looks thready. Maculata's lower lobe is slightly ruffled and almost always distinctly spotted with purple. It also tends to be coppery in overall colour. Trifida is tiny, seldom more than 8" high and its blossoms are proportionally smaller. Striata...as yet not confirmed in the Park (a single herbarium specimen is misidentified), but I'm still searching for those striped, more compact flowers every time I go into the field.

Corallorhiza Mertensiana

Day 206: "You're looking for pink asparagus." Those were the words I used to describe our quest to Park colleague and friend Anne Spillane this morning. We'd already visited Corallorhiza trifida at two locations and had discovered one more specimen, bringing the year's total to an astonishing 17. During the hunt, I had noticed a few spears of Corallorhiza mertensiana (a related and much more common species) poking their little heads up through the forest duff. I asked Anne if she would like to visit a site I call the "Mertensiana Grove," a suggestion to which she readily agreed. It was there where the search for pink asparagus began in earnest. By the time we had covered roughly half an acre of mossy ground in open forest, our tally of Western Coralroot surely numbered over 100. There were 21 spears in this colony alone, more evidence that 2016 promises to be another banner year for mycoheterotrophs.

As a footnote, our trip also included removal of two more specimens of Tussilago farfara, the invasive I described a few days ago. Both were found at the site of the original infestation. In a moment of whimsy, I put today's score in an interoffice envelope directed to our Plant Ecologist.

Penny Perspectives - Western Coralroot

Day 230: Yet another of western Washington's native Orchids, Western Coralroot (Corallorhiza mertensiana) is the most frequently seen of the four Coralroots known to occur in Mount Rainier National Park. Its petals are marked with red or magenta stripes, and the lower petal has a spur at the base, unlike either C. maculata or C. striata. Stems may reach as much as 18 inches in height. The plant is an obligate mycoheterotroph, i.e., it has no leaves and contains no chlorophyll, and relies on a fungus to break down soil into usable nutrients. A flower dainty enough to grace a faerie's evening dress as this "Penny Perspective" demonstrates, Western Coralroot prefers the shady, "sun-fleck" forest which constitutes much of the Park's lower elevations.