Goodyera oblongifolia

Goodyera oblongifolia is a species of orchid known by the common names western rattlesnake plantain and giant rattlesnake plantain. It is native to much of North America, particularly in the mountains of the western United States and Canada, from Alaska to northern Mexico, as well as in the Great Lakes region, Maine, Quebec and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.[1][2][3]

Goodyera oblongifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Cranichideae
Genus: Goodyera
Species:
G. oblongifolia
Binomial name
Goodyera oblongifolia
Synonyms[1]
  • Spiranthes decipiens Hook.
  • Goodyera menziesii Lindl.
  • Orchiodes decipiens (Hook.) Kuntze
  • Peramium menziesii (Lindl.) Morong
  • Peramium decipiens (Hook.) Piper
  • Epipactis decipiens (Hook.) Ames
  • Goodyera decipiens (Hook.) F.T. Hubb.
  • Goodyera oblongifolia var. reticulata B. Boivin
  • Goodyera oblongifolia f. reticulata (B. Boivin) P.M. Br.

Goodyera oblongifolia is most commonly found in mountain forests, often in the understory of conifers. This orchid forms a patch of broad lance-shaped to oval-shaped leaves at the ground, each 4 to 9 centimeters long. The leaf is dark green and in this species the midrib is streaked with white. The netlike veining on the leaf is also white, but not as thick as the midrib stripes. The plant produces an erect inflorescence up to about 30 centimeters tall. The top of the inflorescence has many white orchid flowers which may all face the same direction on the stalk, or be spirally arranged about it.[4][5][6]

The common name stems from the leaves, which have marks resembling snakeskin; the plant is also said to have been used to treat snakebites.[7]

References
  1. "Goodyera oblongifolia". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. Kallunki, Jacquelyn A. (2002). "Goodyera oblongifolia". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 26. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  3. "Goodyera oblongifolia". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  4. Gleason, H. A. & A.J. Cronquist. 1968. The Pteridophytoa, Gymnospermae and Monocotyledoneae. 1: 1–482. In H. A. Gleason New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada (ed. 3). New York Botanical Garden, New York
  5. Hickman, J. C. 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California 1–1400. University of California Press, Berkeley.
  6. Cronquist, A.J., A. H. Holmgren, N. H. Holmgren & Reveal. 1977. Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, U.S.A. 6: 1–584. In A.J. Cronquist, A. H. Holmgren, N. H. Holmgren, J. L. Reveal & P. K. Holmgren (eds.) Intermountain Flora, Hafner Pub. Co., New York.
  7. Fagan, Damian (2019). Wildflowers of Oregon: A Field Guide to Over 400 Wildflowers, Trees, and Shrubs of the Coast, Cascades, and High Desert. Guilford, CT: FalconGuides. p. 65. ISBN 1-4930-3633-5. OCLC 1073035766.


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