Small orchid with the two, opposite leaves mid-stem, characteristic genus Listera. The leaves are ovate to elliptic, leaf highlighted in photo was 4 cm long and 2 cm wide. The flowers, we counted up to 11 on one plant, are borne in a raceme, and are pale-green to yellowish green, and have a distinctive two-lobed lower lip. Flowers were measured to 15 mm long, the lower lip to 9 mm long. Stems are hairy above the pair of leaves, glabrous below the pair of leaves. Leaves glabrous.

Their green-coloured flowers, and small size make them pretty difficult to spot in the forest undergrowth, even when in bloom.

Habitat is coniferous, mossy woods. Very rare, listed as an S1 by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre. I've seen them in 3 or 4 locations around the province.

Height listed in Budd's Flora to 25 cm, we measured plants to 13 cm tall.

Photos taken June 16th and June 24th in Duck Mountain Provincial Park, about 300 km north east of Regina, SK, and July 5th in the Nesbit Provincial Forest, about 350 km north 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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