🌿 HELLO CALYPSO 🌿

Calypso bulbosa
Native to Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.
This photo was captured at c. 200' elevation by Thea Lengyel,
hiking friend, one island to the east of Shaw,
on Point Colville, Lopez Island, this day of 14 April 2019.
The area is part of the San Juan Island National Monument,
administered by the Department of the Interior's
Bureau of Land Management. The proclamation to
protect this land as a natural area
was signed by President Obama
in March of 2013.
Dogs must be on a leash.

"The goddess daughter of Atlas was Calypso, whose name means concealment, with reference to this lovely flower's habit of hiding among the mosses of the forest floor, in the shade––essential to its existence––of high forest trees. 'Bulbosa,' of course, refers to the oval white pseudo-bulb (corm) from which grow the single, strikingly parallel-veined, ovate leaf, and the 6-inch delicate scape carrying its solitary nodding and lovely blossom. The blossom, in the windless air of the forest, delights the wanderer with its heavenly fragrance––fresh, spicy, and utterly distinctive. It is a perfume to be mentioned in the same breath with that of the Twinflower, a perfume more subtle and refined even than that of the Rein-orchid.

      The tiny 'bulb' is most tenuously fixed to the forest duff by a few thread-like fibers, which are broken with fatal effects, by the most careful attempts to pinch off the enchanting flower-stem. Further, the bulb grows only in association with certain species of fungi, so that it is virtually impossible to transplant it successfully––as many thousands of admirers can ruefully report. One must need come reverently to its native haunts, there to admire it, and go blithely away––happy in the knowledge that others may come to enjoy it. 

      An unusual feature of this sole member of its genus in North America, is the appearance in late summer of the distinctive leaf, which persists through the rough weather of fall and winter, until the plump flower bud appears and is pushed upward by the lengthening scape, from March to June according to latitude and elevation. After the flower has withered the leaf slowly shrivels, and during the early summer months, the plant is almost undetectable.

      Especially on southern Vancouver Island [B.C.,] one occasionally finds the form ALBA, ethereally lovely and glistening white. When shape and proportion, colour and perfume are all considered, this must rank as one of the most enchantingly lovely of all our native plants. 

      On May 4 1792, Archibald Menzies, naturalist with Captain George Vancouver, was anchored near the present site of Port Discovery, WA, and making a landing and excursion into the forest'... met with vast abundance of that rare plant the Cypropedium bulbosom/ which was now in full bloom & grew about the roots of the Pine trees in very spongy soil & dry situations.' Menzies' Journal of Vancouver's Voyage. 1792."

Professor Lewis J. Clark.

Wild Flowers of the Pacific Northwest

from Alaska to Northern California. pp. 53-54.

Never will seeds or bulbs of this native be for sale at the Gatehouse but we can enjoy them on treks through the woods. 

🌿 CALYPSO bulbosa (Fairy slipper) 🌿

CALYPSO BULBOSA
Shaw Island
Three April two thousand and sixteen.
This alert person behind the hand,
found a colony of Calypso, the
most I have ever seen in one location.

"Passing through a heavily shaded, coniferous forest during May [but in early April in 2016,] the watchful traveler will sometimes be rewarded by coming upon a classic orchid of bewitching elegance, so delicate as it grows alone on a bed of heavy humus or fern moss. Nature's artistry is hard to miss in the perfect design––a nodding head with five rosy-purplish tepals (modified petals) above a little face, that has a pink upper lip, a white lower one flushed with pink, and a blood red-streaked throat that seems as if it were hand-painted. If that isn't enough, the heads often have a pleasing, unusual fragrance. Calypso, Atlas' daughter in Greek mythology, was a sea nymph, often concealed below the waves, and here her name honors the lovely charms and inconspicuous nature of our orchid. The roots grow in association with certain fungi and, thus, attempts to transplant are futile; plants also can not tolerate picking or other disturbances. This species was formerly believed to be rare in our area, but naturalists in Washington have now found that it is widespread. The San Juans are particularly blessed, with impressive colonies present on many islands, such as Jones, Sucia, Lopez, Orcas, and many others."

      No one can say it better than these two authors:

Wild Plants of the San Juan Islands. Atkinson, Scott and Fred Sharpe. Seattle, The Mountaineers. 1985.
      How's that for the start of April on Shaw Island.

      If you'd like to be knocked over with some photographic art visit this PNW site to view the wild Calypso orchid captured by a master.Pacific Northwest Orchids
      Artist Joan Baez includes the Calypso in her song "If I knew"