Yadon's piperia ~ 04/18/13 ~ Huckleberry Hill

 Yadon's rein orchid
Piperia yadonii
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

posted 05/23/13 - "Please watch your step. Those are Yadon's you're treading on."  So said my veteran CNPS guide. Really!?!  I've only ever noticed these when they're blooming in late July and early August and the leaves are completely gone.  I had no idea when the leaves were actually out; they look just like the exotic orchids I have as houseplants.  Once again, I'm noting this location is not Monterey City's Huckleberry Hill Nature Preserve where I first saw Yadon's.

Yadon's piperia ~ 08/27/10 ~ Skyline Forest Drive

Yadon's rein orchid
Piperia yadonii
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

Okay, okay, I've already said I've had enough of these orchid pics. It's our "thing" this summer to look for orchids, whereas last year we were really into grunion greeting. Just wanted to log and post pictorial proof of the end of the Yadon's blooms at the same time and location of the elegant piperia shown on this same date.

Yadon's piperia ~ 08/09/10 ~ Skyline Forest Drive

Yadon's rein orchid
Piperia yadonii
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

Do you like the dirt and grime on this orchid? I guess that's what you get when it grows 5 feet away from the road. Too bad they mow so heavily in the area to keep the roadsides clear. I wonder if there'd be more Yadon's piperia if they didn't mow.

piperia ~ 07/25/10 ~ Huckleberry Hill

light colored orchid likely Yadon's
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

Huckleberry Hill was the first place that I ever saw Yadon's piperia. It helps tremendously for ID to have numerous yellow flags with a labeled digital picture, complete with scientific name and common name. The plastic flags themselves serve as great hiding spots for spider egg sacs. I wish I had taken a picture. Interestingly enough, there was a chicken-wired orchid on the Presidio side of the fence. We wondered what it was, but couldn't get close enough to check it out. We may never know. Obviously, somebody is studying these orchids, but I wouldn't know who or where to go for this information.

ps - 07/27/12 - Vern Yadon confirmed to me that the later flowers tend to be much paler than the early flowers, even though I've seen both versions on this same day at multiple locations.

Yadon's piperia ~ 07/25/10 ~ Skyline Forest Drive

Yadon's rein-orchid
Piperia yadonii
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

Again, another post to show the variation, location, and timing of this local federally endangered orchid. For us, it seems they are everywhere. We were simply driving to another location to show our new orchid friend where they are locally and saw blue flags on the side of the road. We stopped, of course, and found numerous blooming Yadon's. It's very typical to see rattlesnake grass (Briza maxima) wrapped around the orchid shoots.

Yadon's piperia ~ 07/25/10 ~ Washington Park

Yadon's rein-orchid

Piperia yadonii
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

Have you seen enough Yadon's piperia, yet? I'm mainly logging these posts to document the different locations (noted in labels below with an 'x') that we've found them this year. However, the first picture above is stockier than others I've seen and asked our orchid friend. He says there can be quite the variation within species. I maintain several CalPhotos of orchids may be misidentified.

Yadon's piperia ~ 07/25/10 ~ Manzanita Park

Yadon's rein-orchid among Hooker's manzanita
Piperia yadonii among Arctostaphylos hookeri ssp. hookeri
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory among CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae and Ericaceae

After 4 unsuccessful GPS coordinate attempts to find this rare orchid and finding other things instead, we finally hit pay dirt on our 5th try. The first photo above is unusually light colored compared to other Yadon's piperia that we saw this day. For a much better picture of this pale individual, check out Native Orchids on Flickr. The low growing shrub where this orchid is found is, I'm totally guessing, Hooker's manzanita and it's classified by CNPS as a 1B.2 rare, threatened, and endangered CA native.

ps 06/06/11 - As I was looking at my new labels for endangered and threatened species, I discovered Hooker's manzanita is considered endangered in the state of CA.

pss 10/23/11 - I'm going through and adding labels for endangered and threatened species for CA . I can't find this particular manzanita on the official California Department of Fish and Game's PDF list updated this month October 2011. I haven't figured out which is correct, the PDF or Elkhorn's site (embedded in the postscript above) is correct. And, I also have not figured out how to embed links to PDFs.

Yadon's piperia ~ 07/19/10 ~ Huckleberry Hill

Yadon's rein-orchid

Piperia yadonii
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

This is a federally endangered species. We visited Huckleberry Hill June 2, 2010 and the only evidence of this orchid at the time were numerous flags and signs. I don't know what the leaves look like, but I got down on my hands and knees and searched all around several flags for anything green. Really, the only things growing in this 30 yard stretch of path were rattlesnake grass (Briza maxima), an unidentified single-stem legume, bushes I believe are Eastwood's manzanita (Arctostaphylos glandulosa), and Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). Thanks to Native Orchids flickr post of another Piperia, I suspected Yadon's might be blooming now and went on an orchid hunt instead of my usual early morning walk.

Bingo! It's not a very big plant, maybe 8-14" tall and would be very easy to overlook. My photos look nothing like a particular photo used on both Wikipedia and CalPhotos.

It was interesting to note that more than half the flags seemed to have blooming orchids nearby and a smaller number of blooms had no flag at all. I also found a couple orchids eaten down to the stems or pulled up from the roots.

I rarely go out looking for something this specific, but I'm glad I did. Vern Yadon (yes, the same for whom this orchid is named) states there are 14 orchid species, with 7 being Piperia, in Monterey County.

ps 08/26/11 - Ha! Looks like the picture used for both Wikipedia and CalPhotos was incorrectly identified. Phew! No wonder I was so confused when first looking at this orchid. I've already contacted the owner of the picture to see if he can get it placed properly online.

pss 12/30/13 - The California Department of Transportation has requested permission to use my first photo above on a vista viewpoint interpretive sign.  Cool!