Minnesota Wildflowers


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Listera cordata (Heart-leaved Twayblade)

Plant Info
Also known as:
Genus:Listera
Family:Orchidaceae (Orchid)
Life cycle:perennial
Origin:native
Habitat:shade; damp, mossy coniferous or mixed forests, bogs, swamps
Bloom season:June - August
Plant height:4 to 13 inches
USDA PLANTS database:Minnesota county distribution map

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Detailed Information

Flower: irregular raceme

[photo of flowers] Tall, slender raceme of 6-21 tiny (1/8 to ¼ inch top to bottom), star/badge shaped flowers, greenish to more commonly reddish purple, on top of globe-like ovaries. 3 sepals and 2 petals are evenly arrayed star-like around the column, similar in color and oval shape though petals are a richer color in darker pigmented flowers. The lower lip is deeply forked like a snake's tongue.

Leaves and stem: opposite simple

[photo of leaves] There are 2 heart-shaped opposite leaves, 3/8 to 1½ inches long, 3/8 to 1¼ inches wide, hairless and stalkless, about half way down stem. The stem is covered in glandular hairs above the leaves and smooth below.

Notes:

Please watch your step for this tiny bit of a plant in Nature's garden. Even the most conscientious tree hugger cannot but sometimes walk all over those they would love the most. Similar species are L. auriculata (Auricled Twayblade) and L. convallarioides (Broad-leaved Twayblade). On both, the lower lip on the flowers is broader and notched but not deeply cleft, petals and sepals are reflexed away from the column, and the leaves are more oval-elliptic.

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Map of native plant purveyors in the upper midwest

More photos

Photos courtesy Peter M. Dziuk, taken at a SNA in north-central Minnesota

Comments

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