Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Asparagales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Galearis spectabilis
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more: Galearis spectabilis (Show Orchis) and Trillium species in the Pisgah National Forest, Transylvania County, NC by Jim Fowler.
Learn more about Showy Orchis from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Galearis spectabilis
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Galearis spectabilis
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26 (2002)
Galearis spectabilis
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 049-02-001:
Orchis spectabilis FAMILY Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Galeorchis spectabilis
COMMON NAME:
Showy Orchis
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_gasp11_001_lvd
)
Harry Davis hld989_crw_0540
April
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Helmet magenta-purple, lavender or white; lip usually but not always white, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm120403_437
April Henderson County NC
Holmes Educational Forest
)
JK Marlow jkm150423_455
April Sevier County TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Rarely almost white, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm150425_845
April Sevier County TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Stalk w 2-10 fragrant bicolored flowers rises from 2 broad glossy leaves, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm190412_7247
April Rabun County GA
This is a low plant with 2 lustrous, wide, elliptic leaves at the base, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm230428_2859
April Greenville County SC
Mountain Bridge Wilderness
In orchids, the pistil and stamens are fused together in a structure called the column, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
Keith Bradley kab_g_spectabilis_02935
April Polk County NC
Pearson's Falls
The lip is white, nearly flat, points downward, and is spurred, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
Keith Bradley kab_g_spectabilis_1641
April Haywood County NC
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The lip is usually white, sometimes tinted with shades of pink, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
Patrick D. McMillan pdmgspectabilis_chauga2
April Oconee County SC
Chau-Ram County Park
A tubular spur is connected to the lip, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
Patrick D. McMillan pdmgspectabilis_tuck1
April
)
JK Marlow jkm060508_149
May Macon County NC
Nantahala National Forest: Wayah Ranger District
The dorsal sepal and petals converge to make up the "helmet", per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm080504_148
May Swain County NC
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Basal leaves to 4" long and rounded at the apex, per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).
)
JK Marlow jkm080504_149
May Swain County NC
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Fruits are ellipsoid capsules 0.7-1.0" long, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm080504_152
May Swain County NC
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_g_spectabilis_4
May
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Galearis spectabilis
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Galearis spectabilis
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Galearis spectabilis
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26
Galearis spectabilis
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 049-02-001:
Orchis spectabilis
FAMILY
Orchidaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Galeorchis spectabilis
989
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Rich, deciduous forests, most typically over calcareous or mafic rocks, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Mountains of GA & NC, uncommon SC Mountains, rare elsewhere in Carolinas
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Pink/Mauve
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:
Summer
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p048
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p130
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p139
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p332
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p175
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p046
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p400
- Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005) p060
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p394
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p453
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p375
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p025
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