General: Perennial herb from slender rhizomes, with fibrous roots; stems 5-20 cm tall, with 2 leaves, glandular-hairy above.
Leaves: Two, near middle of stem, roughly opposite, egg-shaped to elliptic, 1-6 cm long, 0.7-3 cm wide, abruptly tapered to base, smooth.
Flowers: Inflorescence a somewhat open, few-flowered, terminal raceme, the flowers green or yellowish-green; sepals broadly lanceolate, 4-7 mm long, 1-veined, distinct; petals similar to sepals, 4-6 mm long; lip 8-13 mm long, 5-7 mm wide at tip, broadly oblong, widely notched at tip, with 2 rounded lobes at base.
Fruits: Capsules, spreading, egg-shaped, to 5 mm long.
1. Lips deeply cleft into two linear pointed lobes................L. cordata
1. Lips entire or shallowly cleft into blunt lobes.
2. Lips rectangular or oblong, with rounded lobes at base, without a pair of lateral teeth................L. borealis
2. Lips wedge-shaped, with a pair of lateral teeth, no lobes at base.
3. Ovaries glabrous; lips with a long slender tooth on each side at the base, not hairy-margined...................L. caurina
3. Ovaries slightly glandular-hairy; lips with a short triangular tooth on each side at the base, finely hairy-margined.................L. convallarioides
Source The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Habitat / Range
Moist coniferous forests, edges of streams and meadows in the montane to subalpine zones; infrequent in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, YT and NT, E to PQ and S to CO, UT, ID and OR.
