Cleistes divaricata (L.) Ames 1921 Photo courtesy of Nicholas Plummer

Flowers in situ Lake Ramsay Preserve of The Nature Conservancy Photos courtesy of Brian A. O'Brien Copyright ©

Common Name The Spreading Cleistes [refers to the flowers size]

Flower Size 4 1/2" [11.25 cm]

Found in the SE United States from NJ to Florida with eastern Kentucky and Tennesee to the west in pine barrens, bogs, savannahs, swamps, and damp meadows along streams at elevations of sea level to 1300 meters as a small to large sized, cool growing terrestrial witha solitary leaf borne midway on the stem and then a terminal, single flowered inflorescence with a leaflike, lanceolate floral bract that is longer than the ovary arising in the spring with a large, fragrant single flower

Synonyms *Arethusa divaricata L. 1753; Cleistes divaricata f. leucantha P.M.Br. 1995 ; Pogonia divaricata (L.) R. Br. 1813

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 6 1979 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 1 1987 stamp; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 5 1987 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 60 No 4/338 1991 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 5 1999 photo;

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