Fairy Slipper (Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis)

We went on a hike with the Washington Native Orchid Society April 24th at Anderson Lake State Park on the Olympic Peninsula. We went to see these native orchids in bloom, but saw a number of other interesting flowers as well.

This native orchid is known as the Western Fairy Slipper and is different from the Eastern Fairy Slipper in that the hairs on the lip are white, not yellow, the color is a darker pink, and the front lobe of the lip is heavily spotted in brown. Two photos of the eastern variety are shown below, along with another older photo of this variety.

Though these are known as the western variety, their range often overlaps with the other variety and occasionally they hybridize. We found about two dozen of them growing in shaded but open, rather dry wooded locations around the lake.

This was published in the April, 2011, issue of Orchids, the magazine of the American Orchid Society, in an article titled "Taking Aim."