If you Google "Alaska Orchids" you should find a lot of info.

Alaska is home to over fourteen species of wild orchids.
Calypso bulbosa
Corallorhiza maculata
Cypripedium species
Habenaria
Platanthera
Spiranthes and many more! ;~)

Sometimes they're not always easy to find. Even when you're looking right at them.
In my Flickr pages, I have photos of my local native orchids that I've been able to find.
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Some range all up and down the west coast.
Although the link below isn't exactly Alaska, many of the orchids are the same!

Here is a link that might be useful: wild orchids of British Columbia

Hi
Interesting question !! I would suspect they are definite cool growers lol Would also suspect they are limited to the warmer coastal regions??
Have went out looking for "natives" in several locations though not Alaska. I find that they almost invariably they are difficult to find and rarer than the average vegetation in a given area. Even in areas with hundreds of species they were never the dominant growth even in local areas.
I would suspect you will need to definitely get some clues what to look for and where and even then be able to identify them?? Tell us what you find. have never seen any temperate rainforests and they seem equally as interesting as tropical. gary

Scott I always love your pics. I really like that little purple fella.
Thanks all, I will hit the books a little more to see what I can find. I knew they had to have some. They are really hard to find here too as they grow really low to the ground.
Still cool to have something to look for other than whales and dolphins. I will definately have my camera on me so I will share any of my finds.

Glad to be of help!

That Calypso bulbosa was my biggest challenge to find.
During its ephemeral blooming season, I'm usually being overrun with new born lambs and calves.
It's hard to justify leaving to take pictures of flowers!

They're also in far shadier locations than the others that I found.
It could be part of being somewhat colorblind, but I had a heck of a time before first seeing them.
(I have more issues with reddish/greenish visuals. Like peaches in a tree!)

Keep in mind that many native orchids are very ephemeral.
As most of the blooming is in the spring, the show is probably over.
I'm just guessing based on what happens here.
I haven't been up to check on the Cyp. californicums in months.
I know where many of the areas are and could find them, but the flowers are certainly gone by now!

Keep an eye out for unfriendly/hungry wildlife!
"Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my! ..."
I am always armed when I go out in my back pasture, let alone into the wilderness area.
It's extremely easy to get your focus down to just what you're doing and lose track of what's going on around you.
Mountain lions are my biggest concern, although we do have bears.

On that note...
Have fun!;~)

Scott

I'll agree with ephemeral. I've been to Alaska (the Kenai Peninsula) 4 times and all that time, I've never encountered a wild orchid. I'm sure they were there, but I usually go in late July and August and by that time most orchids are finished blooming. I'm there mostly to go fishing (salmon) but I was always on the look out for orchids. All I'd see is wild rose, fireweed, and monkshood in flower.

This is an old thread, but I've found the Aleutian Wild Orchid here in Alaska. Don't have to worry about moose or bear out in Unalaska, which makes wildflower hunting a bit more relaxing. :-)
There is a purple and a white version, about 8 inches high, with tiny orchid flowers all around a main stem. This photo was taken in June 2014.

What a lot of people don't realise is that Alaska has far more orchid species than Hawaii. And the Alaskan ones you can see with the naked eye, whereas for the Hawaiian ones you need a magnifying glass to see the flowers.

I have always been told that the Hawaiian Islands are so new in the worlds scheme of things that orchids really have not had time to develop there, and now that "man" has found that on the islands someplace they contain the almost perfect environment to grow many of the worlds orchid species, we have really lost the opportunity to watch orchids develop there naturally.

To get back to the topic of cold hearty terrestrial species, There are a fair number of them that grow north of the Arctic Circle.

I make it a habit to keep an eye out for orchids any time I am in the woods, but I too have to admit that it can be dangerous looking down too much in certain places. In my state (SC) though, that is a very beneficial habit to have, since many of the more dangerous varmints we are most concerned with in the woods also keep a very low profile.....(snakes, and alligators).

Bill

Kristine, your orchid is Dactylorhiza aristata. I believe it's the only Dac in North America but I might be wrong.

Alaska is a BIG place and there are definitely hot spots for orchids around. I haven't been so I'm only be relaying hearsay but in some places it's hard to throw a stone and not hit an orchid...