Amerorchis rotundifolia fma. lineata

This was another first for me on our trip to Edmonton last summer. While out orchid hunting with the friend mentioned in the previous post, I was also shown this unusual form of a common orchid by him. This is the Small Round-leaf Orchis but a rare form with a striped rather than a spotted lip, Amerorchis rotundifolia fma. lineata. The ordinary form, which grows in abundance in British Columbia and Alberta, is shown below. This is the orchid that is closely related, too, to the European genus, Orchis, the only North American species so closely related to that genus.