General: Perennial herb from slender rhizomes and thickened roots; stems 20-40 cm tall, with bracts, lacking leaves, glandular-hairy.
Leaves: In a basal cluster, the stalks 5-20 mm long, the blades usually oblong-elliptic, 3-7 cm long, dark green, usually blotched with white along midvein or white-veined.
Flowers: Inflorescence a terminal, 1-sided and often spiraled, bracted, spikelike raceme, the flowers greenish-white, small; sepals 1-veined, lateral sepals about 5 mm long, the upper sepal 6-11 mm long, joined with lateral petals to form a hood over the lip; lip 5-7 mm long, pouchlike, beaked; column 3-5 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules, ascending to erect, about 10 mm long.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2008)
A shade-tolerant, submontane to subalpine, transcontinental North American forb. Occurs on moderately dry to fresh, nitrogen-poor soils within boreal, temperate, and cool mesothermal climates. Common in coniferous forests on water-shedding sites; on nutrient-rich sites it inhabits decaying wood. Usually associated with Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi, Rhytidiadelphus loreus, and Rhytidiopsis robusta. An oxylophytic species characteristic of Mor humus forms.
Dry to moist, mossy forests in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common throughout BC, south of 56 degrees N; N to AK, E to PQ, NB and NS and S to ME, MI, WI, NE, NM, AZ and CA.
