Taxonomy
Family: Orchidaceae
Habitat
Mesic to moist woods.
Associates
Distribution
ME to MN, south to GA and AR.
Morphology
Herbaceous perennial; leaves oval to elliptic, 5-15 cm long and 2-6 cm wide; flowers 5-30 in a loose raceme on a scape 10-25 cm; pedicels and ovary together about 8-15 mm, widely spreading; sepals greenish-white, 1 cm; lateral petals greenish to pale purple, 1 cm, projecting forward or deflexed under the lip and often crossed; lip pale purple, about 1 cm long and nearly as wide, rhomboid-obovate, subtruncate or apiculate at the apex, minutely erose, nearly flat; column 4 mm.
Notes
Flowers June to July
Wetland indicator: FACU
Seems to prefer disturbed areas and may benefit from occasional fires. Rare in many of the states in the northern part of its range.
References
Gleason, Henry A.
and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY.
Michael Hough © 2018 |