Epipactis gigantea

Stream orchid, Stream Orchid

Family: Orchidaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Stream orchid is a California native perennial found in the California Floristic Province, Great Basin, and Desert regions in seeps, wet meadows, and streambanks at elevations up to 2,600 meters. Flowering from March to October, this plant produces green to red flowers with lateral petals 13 to 15 millimeters long, featuring a uniquely colored lip that transitions from greenish-yellow to yellow with red-purple veining. Growing with robust stems 30 to 70 centimeters tall, sometimes reaching up to 1 meter in height, it develops an elegant vertical structure. Its leaves are 5 to 15 centimeters long, ranging from lanceolate to wide-elliptic in shape, displaying a vibrant green coloration. The plant produces elongated fruits measuring 20 to 28 millimeters in length, adding to its distinctive woodland orchid characteristics.

Habitat: Seeps, wet meadows, streambanks

Bloom period: Mar-Oct

Elevation: < 2600 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc GV, s ChI), GB, D

California counties: Humboldt, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, Mendocino, Santa Barbara, Inyo, San Diego, Butte, Tuolumne, Modoc, Ventura, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Tulare, Santa Cruz, Plumas, Del Norte, Calaveras, Lake, Contra Costa, Mono, Fresno, Yolo, Napa, El Dorado, Monterey, Sierra, Mariposa, Lassen, Kern, Glenn, Imperial, Alameda, San Mateo, Madera, Marin, Colusa, Tehama, Trinity, Shasta, Nevada, Stanislaus, Siskiyou, Solano, San Benito

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.