Corallorhiza maculata

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Corallorhiza maculata
Corallorhiza maculata 10222.JPG
Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Corallorhiza
Species:
C. maculata
Binomial name
Corallorhiza maculata
Synonyms [1]
  • Corallorhiza multifloraNutt.
  • Neottia multiflora(Nutt.) Kuntze

Corallorhiza maculata, or spotted coralroot, is a North American coralroot orchid. [2] It has four varieties: C. maculata var. occidentalis (western spotted coralroot), C. maculata var. maculata (eastern spotted coralroot or summer coralroot), C. maculata var. mexicana, and C. maculata var. ozettensis. It is widespread through Mexico, Guatemala, Canada, St. Pierre & Miquelon, and much of the western and northern United States (though generally absent from the Great Plains and from the lowland parts of the Southeast). It grows mostly in montane woodlands. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Description

The Corallorhiza maculata side petals are reddish, and the lip petal is bright clean white with deep red spots. Corallorhiza maculata 0905.JPG
The Corallorhiza maculata side petals are reddish, and the lip petal is bright clean white with deep red spots.

Corallorhiza maculata is a myco-heterotroph; it lacks chlorophyll and obtains energy by parasitizing the mycelium of fungi in the family Russulaceae. [6] The rhizome and lower stem are often knotted into branched coral shapes. The stem is usually red or brown in color, but occasionally comes in a light yellow or cream color. There are no leaves and no photosynthetic green tissues. The stems bear dark red scales and intricate orchid flowers.

Corallorhiza maculata flowers are small and emerge regularly from all sides of the stem. The sepals are dark red or brown tinged with purple, long and pointed. The side petals are reddish, and the lip petal is bright clean white with deep red spots. It is usually scalloped along its edges and 7–10 mm (9321332 in). In some varieties, the lip may be plain white without spots.

An unspotted form of Corallorhiza maculata that moreover bears yellow-tinged petals and sepals. Corallorhiza maculata.jpg
An unspotted form of Corallorhiza maculata that moreover bears yellow-tinged petals and sepals.

Uses

Several Native American groups historically used the orchid's stems dried and brewed as a tea for such maladies as colds, pneumonia, and skin irritation.

Corallorhiza maculata is also the topic of the poem On Going Unnoticed by Robert Frost.

Related Research Articles

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<i>Corallorhiza trifida</i> Species of plant

Corallorhiza trifida, commonly known as early coralroot, northern coralroot, or yellow coralroot, is a coralroot orchid native to North America and Eurasia, with a circumboreal distribution. The species has been reported from the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, Korea, India, Nepal, Kashmir, Pakistan, and almost every country in Europe.

<i>Neotinea ustulata</i> Species of orchid

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<i>Lycaste</i> Genus of orchids

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<i>Cyrtostylis</i> Genus of plants

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<i>Corallorhiza striata</i> Species of orchid

Corallorhiza striata is a species of orchid known by the common names striped coralroot and hooded coralroot. This flowering plant is widespread across much of southern Canada, the northern and western United States, and Mexico. It lives in dry, decaying plant matter on the ground in pine and mixed coniferous forests, and it obtains its nutrients from fungi via mycoheterotrophy.

<i>Trichoglottis</i> Genus of orchid

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<i>Corallorhiza wisteriana</i> Species of orchid

Corallorhiza wisteriana, the spring coralroot, arousing coralroot or Wister's coralroot, is a species of coralroot orchid. It is widespread through much of Mexico as well as parts of the United States.

<i>Corallorhiza mertensiana</i> Species of orchid

Corallorhiza mertensiana, or Pacific coralroot, is a coralroot orchid native to the shady conifer forests of northwestern North America. It also goes by the common names Western coralroot and Mertens' coralroot. Corallorhiza mertensiana was previously considered a subspecies of Corallorhiza maculata but was given species rank in 1997 by Freudenstein.

<i>Cypripedium parviflorum</i> Species of orchid

Cypripedium parviflorum, commonly known as yellow lady's slipper or moccasin flower, is a lady's slipper orchid native to North America. It is widespread, ranging from Alaska south to Arizona and Georgia. It grows in fens, wetlands, shorelines, and damp woodlands.

<i>Dendrobium bigibbum</i> Species of orchid from Australia and New Guinea

Dendrobium bigibbum, commonly known as the Cooktown orchid or mauve butterfly orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has cylindrical pseudobulbs, each with between three and five green or purplish leaves and arching flowering stems with up to twenty, usually lilac-purple flowers. It occurs in tropical North Queensland, Australia and New Guinea.

<i>Dendrobium jonesii</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium jonesii, commonly known as the oak orchid is a species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid endemic to far north Queensland. It has spindle-shaped pseudobulbs, up to seven thin, dark green leaves and up to thirty five crowded, star-like, fragrant cream-coloured or white flowers with purple markings on the labellum.

<i>Dendrobium tetragonum</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium tetragonum, commonly known as the tree spider orchid, is a variable species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid endemic to eastern Australia. Tree spider orchids are unusual in having pendulous pseudobulbs that are thin and wiry near the base then expand into a fleshy, four-sided upper section before tapering at the tip. There are only a few thin but leathery leaves at the end of the pseudobulbs and up to five flowers on relatively short flowering stems. To allow for the variations in the species there are five subspecies and a variety, some with a unique common name.

<i>Epidendrum rigidum</i> Species of orchid

Epidendrum rigidum is an epiphytic reed-stemmed Epidendrum orchid common throughout the Neotropical lowlands, below 600 m (2,000 ft).

<i>Corallorhiza odontorhiza</i> Species of orchid

Corallorhiza odontorhiza, common name fall coral-root or small-flowered coral-root, is a species of orchid widespread across eastern and central United States, and reported also from Mexico, Central America, Quebec and Ontario. In North America, it occurs in forested areas up to an elevation of 2800 m.

<i>Liparis liliifolia</i> Species of plant (orchid)

Liparis liliifolia, known as the brown widelip orchid, lily-leaved twayblade, large twayblade, and mauve sleekwort, is a species of orchid native to eastern Canada and the eastern United States. It can be found in a variety of habitats, such as forests, shrublands, thickets, woodlands, and mountains. The orchid is considered globally secure, but it is considered rare or endangered in many northeastern states.

<i>Thelymitra maculata</i> Species of orchid

Thelymitra maculata, commonly called the spotted curly locks or eastern curly locks, is a species of orchid in the family Orchidaceae and endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has a single erect leaf, spiralling around the flowering stem and a single pink or purplish, spotted flower with more or less circular, yellow ear-like arms on the sides of the column.

Dendrobium schneiderae, commonly known as the Eungella moon orchid or small moon orchid, is an epiphytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has crowded pseudobulbs with two leaves on the tip of each and arching flowering stems with up to thirty five waxy, yellowish, cup-shaped flowers. It grows in open forest and rainforest.

<i>Platanthera chorisiana</i> Species of orchid

Platanthera chorisiana, Chamisso's orchid or Choris' bog orchid, is a terrestrial orchid native to the United States, Canada, Russia and Japan.

References

  1. "Corallorhiza maculata". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. Wiese, Karen (2013). Sierra Nevada Wildflowers (2nd ed.). p. 99.
  3. "Corallorhiza maculata". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  4. "Corallorhiza maculata". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  5. Magrath, Lawrence K.; Freudenstein, John V. (2002). "Corallorhiza maculata". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 26. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  6. Lee Taylor D; TD Bruns (October 1999). "Population, habitat and genetic correlates of mycorrhizal specialization in the 'cheating' orchids corallorhiza maculata and C. mertensiana". Molecular Ecology. 8 (10): 1719–1732. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294x.1999.00760.x. PMID   10583834.

Further reading