Neottia cordata (Heart-Leaved Twayblade) - photos and description
Origin: Native.
General: Tiny orchid, erect stems and with two opposite leaves. Stems minutely hairy.
Flowers: The flowers
are small, reddish-green to red in colour. The lip is deeply divided
into two pointed lobes, the lateral petals and sepals are the same
colour as the lip and grow in a fan pattern behind the lip. Flowers
tiny, I’ve measured them to 6 mm long and only 4 mm in width.
Leaves: Located just below or at mid-stem, opposite, broadly ovate to cordate. We measured a leaf at 17 mm long and 16 mm wide.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 20 cm, we measured plants to 12 cm tall.
Habitat: Moist to wet, mossy black spruce woods in the boreal forest.
Abundance: Ranked as uncommon / rare with an S3 ranking (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre, has been very rare in our experience.
Synonym: Listed in some of the field guides we use as Listera cordata.
When and where photographed: Photos taken June 4th, 19th, and 20th, mossy, black spruce woods in the Porcupine Hills, about 450 km north east of Regina, SK, and June 23rd and July 7th, mossy black spruce woods, about 350 km north east of our home in Regina, SK.