Solitary flowers at the end of a slender stem. Flowers quite distinctive, with an inflated, pouch-like lower lip, white with red veining. Flowers are on the small side - we measured them at 17 mm long. Lateral petals and sepals reddish green in colour. The flowers' small size and reddish brown colour blend in to the forest floor, helping to make the plant very difficult to find.
Leaves are alternate, elliptical in profile with noticeable parallel veining. Leaf highlighted in photos above was 6.5 cm long, and 2.5 cm wide.
Growth habit is erect, stems with downy hairs. Tallest plant we observed was 23 cm tall.
Bloom time begins early to mid June.
Habitat is sandy, jack pine forest.
Very rare, listed as an S1 by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.
Photos taken June 5th, jack pine forest, east central Saskatchewan.
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.