What if you get invited to join some botany friends on a roadside fieldtrip to see some rare blooms? You say YES of course. I may not be able to hike but I can photograph. So YES, I’m happy to be invited and even happier to get to see some gems I’ve had on my list. In this case three rare Lady’s Slipper orchids and the Klamath Mountain Catchfly, plus a few bonuses.
Mountain Lady’s Slipper Orchid, Cypripedium montanum. California Rare Plant Rank 4.2.
California Lady’s Slipper, Cypripedium californicum. California Rare Plant Rank: 4.2
Clustered Lady’s Slipper, Cypripedium fasciculatum. California Rare Plant Rank: 4.2
Stream orchid aka Chatterbox, Epipactis gigantea (not rare)
Klamath Mountain Catchfly, Silene salmonacea. California Rare Plant Rank 1B.2
Shasta Lily aka Leopard Lily. Lilium pardalinum ssp. shastense
YES I felt like I won the lottery. What a wonderful botany fieldtrip. It was exciting to find more blooms on my bucket list. Thanks friends!
Jan's Jaunts and Jabberings 
Beautiful! I love the Klamath Mountain Catchfly!
I believe this was my first sighting. I searched my photo library and didn’t find anything. They are so bright. We looked a few weeks later and absolutely no evidence they existed.
Ooooo. Rare orchids! What a find! Having botany friends to help find gems like these makes a hike so rewarding. My trouble is that I’m looking up for birds as well which makes it a challenge to look for flowers too.
Birds are so much harder since they don’t like to sit for portrait sessions.
Very nice! I really love the Cypripedium and the Epipactus.
Are you sure the low orange flowers are Silene? I searched, and those are on tall stems. I found some white ones and trying to find the name.
Fun my botany expert “Silene salmonacea, the Klamath mountain catchfly! There aren’t many flowers out there with this stunning salmon color! Silene salmonacea is a rare (CRPR 1B.2) narrow endemic in Trinity County, California that grows on the ultramafic soils of the region. This species is one of the most incredible and unique members of the genus Silene, a genus which can be found across the world in temperate and boreal climates. Here in the Klamath Range, a lineage of large flowering, low growing Silene has diversified into a few very unique and showy species that I just went on a botany spree for.”