R
are Jewel on the Forest Floor
By Marlene Finley
While hiking in the park this month, you may be rewarded with an increasingly rare find: the fairy slipper also known as calypso orchid or Calypso bulbosa. This delicate pink flower can be found in the shade growing in moist, rich soil with decaying leaves and wood. They are one of the showiest of our native orchids yet reach no more than 8” at best. The sweet scent and yellow hairy pollen filaments of the calypso orchid attract bees, but it is pure deception because there is no nectar to be found.
The calypso orchid produces many seeds which depend upon mycorrhizal fungi associates for germination to take place. One can only imagine how many associations like this we have yet to discover!
While all plants and wildlife are protected in Washington State Parks, it is important to note that native orchids should be left strictly alone in their native habitat, no matter where you find them. These species are becoming increasingly rare, and in some cases completely obliterated mainly due to trampling and picking. This is another reason to stay on marked trails.
It’s spring and what better way to spend it than to search for these rare orchids growing along forest trails within Deception Pass State Park.
For more information:
Washington Native Plant Society, website: wnps.org
US Forest Service, website:https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/calbul/all.html
Flora of the Pacific Northwest by Hitchcock et al
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar and MacKinnon
