General: Perennial, saprophytic herb from coral-like rhizomes; stems 8-20 (30) cm tall, yellowish to greenish, smooth.
Leaves: Bractlike, sheathing, 2 to 5.
Flowers: Inflorescence a terminal raceme of 3 to 20 short-stalked, spreading flowers, the bracts scalelike; sepals usually white or yellowish, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 4.5-6 mm long, usually 1-veined, the lower curved forward; lateral petals sepal-like, but slightly shorter and wider; lip oblong, 3-4.5 mm long, white, sometimes faintly red-spotted, the base usually short-lobed or toothed, vaguely toothed beyond the middle; column 2.5-6 mm long, white or yellowish.
Fruits: Capsules, ellipsoid, drooping, 8-14 mm long.
Moist to mesic coniferous and mixed forests in the steppe and montane zones; frequent throughout BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to ME, MA, PA, WV, OH, IL, MN, SD, NM, UT, NV and CA; Greenland, Iceland, and Eurasia.
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, 2013)
