Common Name: ORCHID FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb, terrestrial [growing on other pls], non-green (nutrition from association of roots with fungi) or green, generally from rhizomes or tubers with few to many fleshy to slender roots; cauline leaves +- reduced to sheathing stem bracts or not. Leaf: 1--many, basal to cauline, linear to +- round, alternate to opposite (if only 1 pair), generally sessile. Inflorescence: flowers 1--many, spike or raceme, bracted. Flower: bisexual, bilateral, in bud generally rotating 180° by twisting ovary (position of parts indicated after twisting); sepals generally 3, generally free, generally petal-like, uppermost generally erect, lateral with chin- or spur-like projection (mentum) or not; petals 3, 1 (lip) different, spurred or not; stamens generally 1 (3 in Cypripedium, 2 functional, 1 a staminode), fused with style, stigma into column, pollen generally lumped, generally removed as unit by insect; ovary inferior, 1-chambered, placentas 3, parietal, stigma 3 lobed, generally under column tip. Fruit: capsule. Seed: many, minute.
Genera In Family: +- 800 genera, +- 25000 species: especially tropics (worldwide except Antarctica). Many cultivated for ornament, especially Cattleya, Cymbidium, Epidendrum, Oncidium, Paphiopedilum; Vanilla planifolia Andrews fruits used to flavor food. Note: Platanthera may be paraphyletic without inclusion of Piperia (Bateman et al. 2009 Ann Bot 104:431--445); study needed.
eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald A. Coleman, Dieter H. Wilken & William F. Jennings, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Ronald A. Coleman, Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: CORALROOT
Habit: Plant +- scapose, brown, tan, +- pink, +- red, +- purple, (+- green); rhizome branches many, short, scaly, together coral-like. Leaf: at flower 0. Inflorescence: raceme; flower bract << flower, often scale-like. Flower: sepals +- alike, oblong to (ob)lanceolate, generally curved over column and lip, generally 3-veined, lower generally fused at base, mentum present or not; lateral petals spreading or curved toward lip, lip not spurred, entire to 3-lobed, spreading to reflexed; column generally convex adaxially, concave abaxially, curved over lip. Fruit: pendent.
Etymology: (Greek: coral root)
eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald A. Coleman, Dieter H. Wilken & William F. Jennings

Common Name: SPOTTED CORALROOT
Habit: Plant 17--55 cm. Stem: red to yellow-brown to yellow. Flower: sepals 5.5--10 mm, lower spreading, color generally same as stems, mentum < 2.5 mm; lateral petals generally like sepals, yellow-brown or deep pink to red, dark-spotted or not, lip 5--7 mm, with 2 rounded lobes laterally, white, unspotted or generally red- to purple-spotted, tip crenate or toothed; column 3--5 mm, +- yellow, purple-spotted. Fruit: 15--20 mm. Chromosomes: 2n=42.
Note: Where together, Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis typically flowers 2--4 weeks earlier than Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata.