Small Whorled Pogonia

(Isotria medeoloides)

 

   

 

Color Photograph: U.S. Fish and Widlife Service, Department of the Interior

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

 

Small Whorled Pogonia (Isotria medeoloides [Pursh] Raf.)

Identification: Flower yellow-green, tubular. Corolla bracketed by two lower and one upper elongate, curled "petals" (actually sepals). Sepals approximate equal in length to the corolla. Flower solitary at the top of the plant. Leaves in a single whorl around the stem just below the apical flower. Plant 3 to 6 inches in length.

Distribution: Local, found from New England in the north, southward to Georgia, and westward to Missouri and Illinois.

Habitat: Small Whorled Pogonia is found in the leaf mold of dry woods.

Flowering period: May to June.

Similar Species: Whorled Pogonia has extremely elongate and tubular sepals that are much longer than the flower corolla.

Comments: Small Whorled Pogonia is a very rare and local species. The plant can remain dormant underground for 10 to 20 years before reappearing.

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