Native orchid with small flowers in late May through June. Flowers have a white lip, and yellowish-green sepals and petals. We measured flowers to 6 mm long and 8 mm wide. Leaves have evolved to a translucent sheath clasping the stem.
Grows in moist coniferous woods, is perennial, and lives off leaf litter on the forest floor (is saprophytic).
Height to 30 cm, usually 20 cm or less. The single plant highlighted with the ruler above was only 12 cm tall.
Took the above photos May 21st lodgepole pine forest, Cypress Hills, 450 km southwest of Regina, SK, June 4th, and in the boreal forest in the Porcupine Hills, 400 km northeast 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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