Heartleaf Twayblade

(Listera cordata)

 

   

 

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.

 

Heartleaf Twayblade (Listera cordata [L.] R. Br. ex Ait. f.)

Identification: Flowers small, dull purple. Lower petal elongate, rectangular, with a deeply forked apex. Flowers arranged in a loose, small spike at the top of the plant. Plant with two leaves, opposite, ovate, and located at about the midpoint of the stem. Plant 3 to 10 inches in height.

Distribution: Labrador to Alaska, southward into the northeastern United States to New Jersey and in the west in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado. The species also occurs in northern Europe and Asia.

Habitat: Found in bogs and wet, cold woods.

Flowering period: June to August.

Similar Species: Broad-lipped Twayblade also has the distinctive pair of ovate leaves in the middle of the stem. However the flowers of Broad-lipped Twayblade are yellow-green, not dull purple, and the apex of the lower petal is notched, but not deeply forked as in this species.

Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc. 2003. All rights reserved.