Peramium pubescens

Description

Goodyera pubescens, the downy rattlesnake plantain, (also known as Peramium pubescens) is one of the most common orchids native to eastern North America. It is found from Florida to Nova Scotia, west to eastern Oklahoma, Minnesota and Ontario. Goodyera pubescens is an evergreen terrestrial herb with variegated leaves. The variegation is in the form of a densely reticulated network of veins that are a much lighter green than the rest of the leaf tissue. It is a creeping plant that divides on the ground surface and sends out short stolons. It may be terrestrial or, occasionally, epipetric, growing on rock shelves. It prefers mildly to moderately acidic soils, such as in oak-heath forests. Goodyera pubescens is a plant in the Orchidaceae (orchid) family that is commonly found in North America. The genus Goodyera are terrestrial plants with a fleshy rhizome with basal evergreen leaves in a rosette pattern - frequently having white or pale green markings. Inflorescences are in the form of a spike of small flowers, usually white with green or brown markings and have fragrant odor. Most of the plants, excluding and petals, are covered in small hairs. The primary difference between Goodyera and Spiranthes (A similar genus in the family Orchidaceae) is that Goodyera have elliptic leaves with white or pale green markings. Goodyera pubescens flowers in mid July-early September with a small spike inflorescence of between 10 and 57 cylindric flowers. The leaves have the white-green marbling in the form of veins throughout, broadly elliptic to broadly ovate (2.1-6.2 x 1.3–3 cm), with either an acute or obtuse apex. The peduncle (stem that connects the stalk to a floret) is 11–35 cm long. Flowers: Lateral sepals 3.1 - 5.3 mm long with distinct petals of 3.6 - 5.7mm. The petals lip is scrotiform (pouch shaped) 2.5 - 4.2 x 2.2 - 3.5mm in size with the apex reflexed (bent outwards) with a slightly tuberculate (bumpy/rough) outer surface. The inner surface is smoother but has thicker veins throughout. The anthers are inflexed (bent inwards) within a cup-shaped clinandrium (an orchid structure beneath the anther). The white flowers are usually atop a leafless stalk.