JUST ONE: Coralroots

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Western Spotted Coralroot orchid

Spotted coralroot

On Going Unnoticed -- Robert Frost

As vain to raise a voice as a sigh In the tumult of free leaves on high. What are you, in the shadow of trees Engaged up there with the light and breeze?

Less than the coralroot, you know, That is content with the daylight low, And has no leaves at all of its own; Whose spotted flowers hang meanly down.

You grasp the bark by a rugged pleat, And look up small from the forest's feet. The only leaf it drops goes wide, Your name not written on either side.

You linger your little hour and are gone, And still the woods sweep leafily on, Not even missing the coralroot flower You took as a trophy of the hour.

Spotted coralroot orchid!

Spotted coralroot,  Corallorhiza maculata, Olympia, WA

One of the stranger orchids that grows Washington State is spotted coralroot,  Corallorhiza maculata. This is a parasitic orchid, a myco-heterotroph that doesn’t have any chlorophyll or use photosynthesis, instead getting all of its nutrients from the underground mycelia of russula and milk-cap mushrooms in the family Russulaceae. It’s helpful for predicting where to find russulas and milk-caps in the fall! I found this one near Issaquah, WA. 

Corallorhiza maculata summer coralroot, Willamette National Forest, Oregon USA

a parasitic orchid from the forest

Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata)

While that’s just horrible, you, you…

*pulls out wildflower identification booklet*

You tansy ragwort. You nodding onion! You absolute tufted vetch! You’re just a no-good pinesap, a terrible blue stickseed! I bet your own family hates you, you good-for-nothing gumweed! You hear that? You’re just a common snowberry! I never should have spoken to you, the one-sided wintergreen you are! You hedge-nettle, the absolute nerve of you!

You long-bracted frog orchid, you spotted coralroot, you mountain ladysipper, you twayblade, you sulphur buckwheat, you tufted loosestrife, you upland larkspur, you shrubby cinquefoil, the worst baneberry of them all! You haunt my dreams with your hawthorn ways, you partridge foot! Don’t be a bitter cherry. Stop being a bald hip rose. Your red-stemmed saxifrage, chickweed monkey-flower, great mullein behind needs to be kicked right out of here! You’re such a showy milkweed, bunchberry! I never want to see your green false hellebore face ever again! So leave me alone, you trumpet honeysuckle!

Let’s! Talk! About! Coralroot!

I am VERY excited to share these photos. I took them in late April and early May (I believe these are two different individual plants, but I’m not 100% sure).

So, these are probably Corallorhiza maculata, which has several common names, some of which are also used do describe similar species. I’ve been calling it Spotted Coralroot, since that’s the most common of the common names I’ve found. These might be Wister’s Coralroot (Corallorhiza wisteriana)...? it’s a species found in this state, but seems to be absent from the states most closely bordering this particular region.

Coralroots are orchids which is SO COOL because we just have these WILD ORCHIDS in our woods! And even cooler is that these bad boys lack the chlorophyll required for photosynthesis, so they get their nutrients from fungi instead of the sun. The photos up there are of solitary plants, but we have clusters of them as well! Here’s what they look like at an earlier stage of life:

If there are any Coralroot specialists out there, hmu. Teach me everything. I love these plants so much.

Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata (Orchidaceae). #orchid #spottedcoralroot #coralroot #corallorhizamaculata #plants #flowers #botany #plantid #plantidentification (at Leavenworth, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByjoSSYAlF4/?igshid=1xfza8mjixv8n

(via Spotted coralroot - Canada Postage Stamp | Flowers)

Spotted coralroot orchid

From the archives Via Flickr: Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata) at Sheppard's Dell State Park

Did you know that the Orchid family is among the most diverse plant families in the world? Second only to the Aster family, it contains more than 28,000 species, 24 of which can be found in Glacier National Park. None are abundant, however, so it can be exciting when you spot some, like this patch of striped coralroot (Corallorhiza striata). Have you had any surprising discoveries of hidden "treasures" on a recent visit to the park?