Small Round-leaved Orchis

(Amerorchis rotundifolia)

 

   

 

Color Drawing: Wolcott, M.V. 1925. North American Wild Flowers. Smithsonian Institution.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Small Round-leaved Orchis (Amerorchis rotundifolia [Banks ex Pursh] Hulten)

Identification: Flowers white to light magenta. Lower petal white, spotted with dark magenta. Lower petal with a bifid apex and two lateral lobes near the base of the petal. Flowers arranged in a loose terminal spike, the flowers interspersed with large, scalelike bracts. Stem naked, without leaves, commonly tinged with pink. Plant with a single, round leaf at its base. Plant 8 to 10 inches in height.

Distribution: Throughout Canada from Greenland to the Rocky Mountains, southward into Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, northern New York, and New England.

Habitat: Small Round-leaved Orchis is a species of coniferous woods, swamps, and bogs.

Flowering period: June to July.

Similar Species: The pink flowers with the magenta spotted lower petal and the single basal leaf should readily identify this species.

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