Scotty Smith's Orchids of Colorado. - Southwest Colorado Wildflowers

Piperia unalascensis (Spreng.) RydbergPiperia unalascensis, (pi‟-per‟-ria)+(un-alas-censis) - unalascensis named for the Aleutian Island,Unalaska, where it was first discovered. Piperia named in honor of Professor C.V. Piper of theAgricultural Experimental Station at Pullman Washington.Common names: Alaska piperia, slender spire orchid.Flowering: early June, July thru July.Description: The floral stem blooms from the bottom first and then blossoms upwards. Theblooming time of this orchid is two months long. The flower itself is light whitish green in color andextremely small in size - less than a ¼ inch. This orchid is green completely. The leaves, 2-6 each, arelance-like and are extremely shiny, waxy like. A wonderful characteristic of this orchid is that theshiny leaves are all withering at the time of blooming. The flowering stem comes from the plants ina very densely packed group. Probably 30-75 flowers packed together. As the plant grows throughthe early season these densely packed spikes elongate and space out as the stem grows to 2 feet tall.The plant is than 12-24 inches in over all height. The orchid flower is one of the smallest inColorado. Flowers are evenly spaced along the stem of the flower. The sepals, light whitish green,fold downwards and are slightly twisted. The petals are fully opened up and almost forming a starshape. The spur is about as long as the lip. It also curves outward from the base of the spur andflower. Piperia unalascensis flowers bear a large resemblance to flowers of several Platanthera species.This orchid is found growing in some of our mesic conifer dry forest. They can be found growing inand under full forests or along banks from old road cuts and trails.Habitat: This orchid grows in partial sun to full sunshine. Mostly found growing in cooler forestareas. The height of this orchid during blooming time varies between 12-24 inches tall at anelevation between 6,500 and 9,000 feet in Colorado.In Colorado, Piperia unalascensis is not common but not on the endangered list yet ether. When seenit is small in quantity. There are records for more than ten counties in Colorado. Our Piperiaunalascensis is found growing in cool dry forest locations. In the foothills around Boulder, Coloradothese can be found. They are also found growing in the mountain valleys.154