General: Perennial herb from slender rhizomes, with fibrous roots; stems 10-35 cm tall, with 2 leaves, glandular-hairy above.
Leaves: Two, near middle of stem, roughly opposite, elliptic to broadly egg-shaped or nearly circular, 2-7 cm long, 1.5-6 cm wide, smooth, abruptly tapered to base.
Flowers: Inflorescence a many-flowered, terminal raceme, the flowers yellowish-green; sepals 4.5-6 mm long, narrowly lanceolate, 1-veined, distinct; petals similar to sepals but narrower, 4-5 mm long; lip 8-13 mm long, 5-7 mm wide at tip, broadly wedge-shaped, with a shallow notch at tip, base with a short triangular tooth on each side, short-clawed; column 2.5-3.5 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules, spreading, egg-shaped, to 4 mm long.
If more than one illustration is
available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two
subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below.
Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Moist forests, bogs and streambanks in the montane zone; infrequent in BC south of 54 degrees N, rare in NW BC; amphiberingian, N to AK, E to NF and S to ME, NH, MI, WI, MN, SD, CO, AZ and CA; E Asia.
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
