Alternate name: Broad-lip Twayblade
Family: Orchidaceae, Orchid view all from this family
Description A little plant with a pair of leaves at midstem below a slender raceme of about 20 small, green, bilaterally symmetrical flowers.
Flowers: 3 sepals and upper 2 petals similar, narrowly lanceolate, short, sharply bent backward; lip petal 3/8-1/2" (9-13 mm) long, with 2 round lobes at end, widest near tip, evenly tapered and then abruptly narrowed to a stalk-like base.
Leaves: 3/4-3" (2-7.5 cm) long, elliptical.
Height: 2-14" (5-35 cm).
Flower June-August.
Habitat Moist woods.
Range Alaska south and east to Newfoundland, and south in West to southern California, Idaho, northeastern Nevada, northern Utah, and central Colorado; also in southern Arizona, and in northern portion of eastern United States.
Discussion Broadleaf Twayblade also occurs in Asia. The small green flowers attract little insects. When the insect enters the flower, it trips a mechanism that fires a spot of pollen that sticks to the insect and is carried by it to another flower, thus facilitating pollination. There are three other species in the West with the characteristic pair of leaves at midstem, but none with sepals and upper petals sharply bent backward.
