Native orchid with stems varying in colour from red to flesh-coloured (most common) to yellow. Leaves are transparent sheaths which clasp the base of the stem. The flowers grow in a raceme and have a distinctive white lip with purple spots. Flowers to 16 mm diameter, lip 6 mm long and 4 mm wide. The entire raceme typically 12 cm long.
This plant lacks chlorophyll, and is saprophytic (derives nutrients from decaying plant material).
Height listed in Budd's Flora to 50 cm; we measured plants to 39 cm tall.
Habitat is shady woodlands, in the Parklands and Boreal Forest.
Listed as uncommon in Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Saskatchewan.
Photos taken June 22nd, lodgepole pine forest, Cypress Hills, June 25th in moist, rich woods in the Boreal Forest, near La Ronge, and end of June in mixed forest in the Moose Mountains.
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.