Corallorhiza wisteriana

Range:

Habitat: terrestrial in moist hardwood forests and hammocks
Common name: Spring Coral-root, Wister's Coral-root
Blooming: March through June
Comments: Early spring is a time when a number of woodland orchids bloom.  The trees are not quite fully decked in their leaves so more light reaches the forest floor.  While many of these woodland orchids rely on leaves to produce their food, a few orchids (known as saprophytes) rely on mycorrhizal fungi almost entirely to provide them with nutrients.  It is well known that most species of orchids have nutrient-poor seeds and rely on fungi to infect the embryos and sustain them with nutrients.  Most orchids sever this as they grow older, producing most of their own food with their leaves (it should be noted, however, that adult orchid species continue to host some micorrhizal fungi in their roots, with many terrestrial species seeming to be more strongly reliant on these than their epiphytic cousins). 

The saprophytes take this to an extreme...they remain dependent on their symbiotic fungi for their entire lives, often hosting their fungi in crystalline, coral-like modified root structures.  These orchids are not parasites, as some of the other near-colorless woodland herbs (such as Indian Pipes, Beechdrops, and Squawroot), but they may still may receive some nutrients from trees.  Recent studies suggest that beneath the soil is a vast network of fungal mycelia spanning from tree-to-tree-to-plant.  Thus, almost all the plants in a forest are connected by this nutrient highway that can funnel nutrients from one plant to another.  The saprophytic orchids may very well intercept some of these nutrients being ferried around.  Research also indicates that flowering stems do have small amounts of clorophyll, probably to provide extra nourishment to the developing seeds.

Corallorhiza wisteriana, known alternately as Spring Coral-root and Wister's Coral-root comes up in early spring into summer.  Plants themselves are usually a clump of coralline roots that can reach a pretty impressive girth of 8 to 10 inches.  Individual flowering stems come up sporadically from various parts of these plants.  Flowering can be quite spotty, and vary widely from year-to-year.  One year, you may find dozens of flowering stems; while another may find you just a handful.  Some suggest that intensity of flowering may be related to the strength of the late winter and early spring rains...more rain seems to mean more flowers.  The flowering stems stand anywhere from 2 to 8 inches (5 to 20 cm) tall, bearing small flowers that might reach 1/3 inch (.8 cm) from top-to-bottom at the most.  The sepals and petals are partially joined (although not fused) into a hand-like structure over the lip and are a greenish-brown color.  The lip contrasts nicely with these, being a snowy white with small purple spots.  Flowers are rapidly pollinated (or perhaps self-pollinate) and do not last long.

Photographs (NOTE: these photos are not available as high-resolution prints):

grouping of flowering stems.	closer photo of the tip of one of these flowering stems	flower closeup, shot 1
second flower closeup	third flower closeup	fourth flower closeup
a nice backlit closeup	closer shot of backlit flower	the best closeup of them all!

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