Hexalectris spicata

(Walter) Barnhart

Torreya 4: 121. 1904.

Common names: Crested coral-root
Basionym: Arethusa spicata Walter Fl. Carol., 222. 1788
Synonyms: Corallorhiza spicata (Walter) Tidestrom
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 604. Mentioned on page 603, 605, 607.

Stems: sheathing bracts 3–5. Inflorescences: floral bracts lanceolate to triangular-ovate, 5–10 × 2–6 mm. Flowers 5–25; pedicels 8–20 mm; lateral sepals oblong-ovate to oblong-lanceolate, falcate, apex acute; petals weakly to strongly recurved, elliptic, oblong-obovate, oblanceolate, or obovate, falcate; lip ovate to obovate, clawed, shallowly 3-lobed, fissure between lobes less than 2 mm deep, middle lobe ovate to suborbiculate, margins undulate, apically rounded to truncate, lateral lobes incurved, broadly rounded to obtuse, margins entire, apically triangular to rounded; lamellae 5(–7), central, purple to white; column white to yellowish white, apically winged, 11–18 mm; anthers whitish to yellow.

Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Flowers chasmogamous; rostellum present; lamellae 0.7–1 mm; petals greater than 14 × 5 mm. Hexalectris spicata var. spicata
1 Flowers cleistogamous or nearly so, occasionally chasmogamous; rostellum reduced or absent; lamellae 0.2–0.7 mm; petals less than 16 × 5 mm. Hexalectris spicata var. arizonica