Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Asparagales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Aplectrum hyemale
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Because there is no basal leaf visible at the time of flowering, and the tree canopy is closed at that time of year (usually in May), you can easily walk past a flowering stem without noticing it! Learn more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
Aplectrum leaf blades are narrowly elliptic, 10-20cm long, the blade > 2x long as wide, tapering to both ends, and notably plicate along the very prominent, white, cartilaginous veins (vs. Tipularia, with leaf blades ovate, < 10cm long, < 2x long as wide, truncate to cordate at the base, acute-apiculate at the apex, and not notably plicate along the veins), per Weakley's Flora (2022)
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Aplectrum hyemale
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Aplectrum hyemale
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26 (2002)
Aplectrum hyemale
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 049-18-001:
Aplectrum hyemale FAMILY Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aplectrum hyemale
COMMON NAME:
Puttyroot, Adam-and-Eve
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA Forest Service / A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Appalachia. 1969 mpa_page_049
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_aphy_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm110313_979
March Greenville County SC
Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve
A solitary elliptic leaf to 6" long, with many narrow white ridges, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm190413_7287
April Rabun County GA
The leaf has the appearance of an unfolded accordion, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_aplectrum_hyemale
April
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JK Marlow jkm0505j_28b
May Jackson County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
Flowers dull yellow or green with mahogany or purplish-brown tips, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
Keith Bradley kab_a_hyemale_73141
May NC
Pisgah National Forest
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_a_hyemale_puttyroo_17
May
Each stalk may contain 10 to 24 one-inch flowers, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm150827_953
August Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden
Capsule ellipsoid, pendant, 1.5-2.3cm long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm0310g_18
October Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden
Like Tipularia, its single, overwintering leaf withers before flowers appear, per Weakley's Flora.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Aplectrum hyemale
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Aplectrum hyemale
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Aplectrum hyemale
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26
Aplectrum hyemale
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 049-18-001:
Aplectrum hyemale
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Aplectrum hyemale
109
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Rich, mesic forests, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Mountains & NC Piedmont (rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal: a solitary leaf
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Yellowish-green with purplish-brown tips
Bilaterally symmetrical
3 sepals, two lateral and one dorsal
3 petals, the two lateral similar and a third (the lip) enlarged
stamens and pistil fused together into a column
Inferior ovary
Bisexual
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p062
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p133
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p255
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p141
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p018
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p330
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p057
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p397
- Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005) p002
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p389
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p448
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p023
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
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