Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SHOWY ORCHIS

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Galearis spectabilis (L. ) Raf.

Wyandotte County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 3-8 inches

Family: Orchidaceae - Orchid Family

Flowering Period: April, May, June

Also Called:

Showy orchid, purple-headed orchid.

Stems:

Flowering stem erect, glabrous.

Leaves:

Basal, 1-3 (usually 2), nearly opposite, broadly elliptic to oblanceolate or narrowly egg-shaped, 3.5 to 8 inches long, .8 to 4 inches wide, dark green, somewhat succulent, glabrous; tip rounded or pointed; base gradually narrowed to sheathing stalk.

Inflorescences:

Raceme, loosely 2-15-flowered, around 3.5 inch long, terminal; flowers subtended by leaf-like, lanceolate or elliptic bracts, .6 to 3 inches long, .2 to 1+ inch wide; lower bracts much exceeding flowers; upper bracts equal to or shorter than flowers.

Flowers:

Showy, erect; sepals 3, elliptic to lanceolate, 2/5 to 3/4 inch long, 1/5 to 1/4 inch wide, pink, lavender or purplish (rarely white); lateral sepals curve up and overlap upper sepal to form a hood; petals 3, linear, 1/2 to 3/5 inch long, 1/12 to 1/6 inch wide; lower petal (lip) larger, rhombic to lance-ovate, 2/5 to 3/4 inch long, 1/4 to 3/5 inch wide, white, protruding downward; margin wavy; lateral petals pink, lavender, or purplish, arching over sepals; forming hood over column (structure formed from stamen and stigma).

Fruits:

Capsule, erect, ellipsoid, 1/2 to 1 inch long, 1/5 to 1/6 inch wide, somewhat triangular in cross section, strongly ribbed; seeds numerous, tiny.

Habitat:

Moist, calcareous woods in rich soil.

Distribution:

North half of east fifth of Kansas.

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Galearis from Latin galea "helmet", alluding to the arching sepals and petals and spectabilis "showy" or "remarkable". The flowers are pollinated primarily by bumblebees.

Showy orchis flowers