!Tipularia discolor (Pursh) Nutt. 1818 Photo by Jim Fowler and his P-Base Orchid North American Orchid Website
Inflorescence Photo courtesy of Mike and Candy Joehrendt
Flower Closeup Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt ©
Plant en situ Photo courtesy of Zachary Bradford
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Common Name Crane Fly Orchid - The Different Colored Tipularia
Flower Size about 1/2" [1.25 cm]
Found in the NE USA south to Florida and west to Nebraska and Texas as a medium sized. cold to cool growing terrestrial in deciduous and coniferous forests along banks of streams with subterranean tubers giving rise to a solitary, erect, broad, dark green above and purple below leaf and blooms on an erect, very slender, 4 to 18" [10 to 45 cm] long, racemose, many [20 to 40] flowered inflorescence with successive opening flowers occuring in the late spring to early fall.
Synonyms *Orchis discolor Pursh 1814; Plectrurus discolor (Pursh) Raf. 1825; Tipularia unifolia (Muhl.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. ?
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 drawing ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 35 No 5 1966 ; AOS Bulletin vol 53 no 7 1984 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 5 1987 photo; Schlechteriana Vol 4 No 4 1993
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