Beautiful little native orchid, bloom colour is a combination pink, white, and yellow. One basal leaf, ovate, having two ridges / folds running the length of the blade (leaf is plicate). Sepals and petals are lanceolate, and pink in colour. Lower lip pouch shaped, white with purple stripes. The lower lip is covered with a white 'apron' on top of which grows a small cluster of golden yellow hairs. Flower 3 cm long, and width (from tips of lateral sepals) 3 cm. Plants glabrous. Translucent sheath clasping the lower stem.

The flowers have a faint fragrance, noticeable with a patch of many plants.

Habitat is coniferous woods. Not common, listed as an S3 by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.

Height of the plants we've observed has varied from 4 cm to 13 cm tall.

The above photos were taken on a rainy May 21st in lodgepole pine forest, the Cypress Hills, 450 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.

I get preachy here: please don't dig up native orchids to try to grow them in your garden. They are becoming rare in the wild due to loss of habitat and wild harvesting. By all accounts they are also quite difficult to transplant successfully from the wild. If you want to grow them in your garden, there are nurseries who grow native orchids from seed who will sell plants to you.

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