It’s early spring, the hills are inexperienced, and the puddles are simply drying out, and I’m looking out the darkish conifer understory of my native North Bay park for flashes of pink. The phrase ‘orchid’ conjures photographs of lush jungles removed from the Bay Space, however one gem of the household—Calypso bulbosa—grows within the shade of our personal ferny forest groves.

The primary time I noticed one, mountaineering alongside the forested slopes of Mount Tamalpais, I gasped. It seems like a flower from a Star Trek set on some distant, verdant planet. It’s gaping and brash, and in case you rise up shut, the reward is a putting mosaic of pink, white, and yellow. I return each spring for a glimpse. 

Maybe you keep in mind from high-school English class that Calypso is a personality from Homer’s Odyssey, a sea-nymph who captured Odysseus for seven years earlier than he escaped. I used to be a bit of puzzled by this dramatic reference till I discovered the Greek root for calypso, kalyptein, means to cowl or conceal—in all probability extra a reference to the orchid’s choice for shadowy, duff-covered forest flooring than any likeness to a possessive sea-witch. Different frequent names are extra intuitive if not fully whimsical—fairy-slipper or Venus’ slipper, which remind me of the forest fairy homes I used to meticulously construct out of rocks as a toddler, leaving out acorn caps as hats and leaves as umbrellas.

The calypso orchid is a difficult kind. Many orchids have irregularly formed flowers with an enlarged decrease lip, however their pollination methods range dramatically. Some ship big-time by way of nectar; others encourage pollinators, primarily, to mate with them by mimicry. Calypso’s cartoonishly giant decrease lip is sort of a blazing neon signal for pollinators far and huge, whereas its furry yellow appendages look similar to the anthers the place these visiting bugs would usually discover nectararies close by. (An anther is a small orb circling the within of a flower, coated with a thick layer of pollen.) However the anthers are fakes and so are the nectaries, and visiting pollinators—often bumblebees—discover that their cease is a waste of time. For the calypso is all present, and no nectar. Pollinators is not going to return after wasting your energy on this error, however that single go to to the flashy touchdown strip is all of the trickster wants for pollination.

As a substitute of nectar, it provides up pollen. However slightly than accumulating a smattering of particular person pollen grains on their legs, the bugs acquire pollinia, that are extra like cumbersome suitcases of pollen that persist with their legs and our bodies. Pollinia are launched from a single anther—an unimaginable evolutionary tactic for spreading genetic materials en masse. They’re frequent amongst orchids. 

And, by the way, they’re ubiquitous amongst milkweeds, too. I’ve but to see a calypso orchid switch pollinia to a bee, however I as soon as watched in awe as honeybees collected the fats packets from milkweed flowers in my backyard at residence, spreading them as they went. It appeared as if the pollinia ought to overwhelm the bees, however these sturdy pollinators didn’t appear to thoughts the additional baggage within the unquenchable quest for candy nectar. 

The calypso is as much as extra cryptic workings past the human eye, beneath the soil. This orchid is almost inconceivable to transplant as a result of it depends partially on belowground fungal buildings for vitamins and to assist germination and seedlings. However a lot remains to be unknown about its underground life. 

The calypso is a flower of contrasts. It’s brash and sensible—and but straightforward to stroll proper previous at the hours of darkness understory. I’ll by no means cease returning to the forest’s secret corners, to understand this hidden, spectacular plant.

Discovering Calypso

Hunt down the calypso within the shade of coastal conifer woodlands from March to June. Search for the intense pink bloom coming out of the leaf litter and duff. All the time respect park guidelines and keep on path. And don’t decide the flower. Choosing and trampling are the principle threats to this delicate plant—and choosing a single flower kills the entire plant. 

Some locations you would possibly discover it, primarily based on Calflora information:

South Bay
• Pescadero Creek Park
• Butano State Park
• Massive Basin

North Bay
• Marin Municipal Water District: Steep Ravine Path, Cataract Path, Bolinas Ridge, Alpine Dam, Phoenix Lake
• Roys Redwoods Protect
• All through Level Reyes
• Jack London State Park
• Samuel P. Taylor State Park
• Jenner Headlands
• Any deeply shaded redwood understory within the Mount Tam watershed
• Bothe-Napa State Park
• Annadel State Park