WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With a 7–16-inch tall stem and a spike of inconspicuous green flowers, this orchid thrives in moderately dry mountain forests. Note the short leaves are even-sized up the stem, and leafy bracts beneath each small flower. The stigma column in the hood is designed to deposit pollen on the compound eyes of the pollinator.

FLOWERS: July–September. Dense to loose spikes cover over 1/2 of the stem with up to 40 green to yellowish flowers; 2 petal-like sepals form lateral wings, the upper sepal and petals form a hood over the stigma and stamens; the lower lip petal is descending, linear, to 3/8-inch long (10 mm); spur is cylindrical, tapering to a point, much longer than the lip; lance-shaped bracts beneath each flower about 1-inch long (2.5 cm).

LEAVES: Alternate, few, bases sheath stem; blades oval to elliptic, 1–1 3/8-inches long (2.6–3.5 cm) and 1/4–3/8-inch wide (7–10 mm) are even-sized up stem.

HABITAT: Gravelly, loam, limestone soils; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-Douglas fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,500–10,600 feet.

RANGE: NM.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Sparsely-flowered Bog Orchid, P. sparsiflora, widespread in mountains of NM, requires wet habitats and has oval to linear lower leaves reaching 12-inches long and 2-inches wide, greatly reduced upward, bracts beneath each flower to 3/4-inch long (19 mm).

NM COUNTIES: Southern NM mountains and Mora County in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Grant, Lincoln, Mora, Otero, Sierra, Socorro.