Tipularia Nuttall. Common name: Cranefly Orchid.
A genus of 3 species; the other species of the genus are e. Asian (1 in Japan and 1 in the Himalayas) (Catling & Sheviak in FNA 2002).
ID notes: The leaves are present during the winter, withering before the flowering stalk appears, the plant thus occasionally mistaken for one of the saprophytic orchids. The leaves are usually purple underneath, a characteristic shared with Aplectrum, but Tipularia leaf blades are ovate, < 10 cm long, < 2× as long as wide, truncate to cordate at the base, acute-apiculate at the apex, and are not notably plicate along the veins (vs. Aplectrum, with leaf blades narrowly elliptic, 10-20 cm long, the blade > 2× as long as wide, tapering to both ends, and notably plicate along the very prominent, white, cartilaginous veins).
References: Brown (2002); Catling & Sheviak (2002) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2002a); Correll (1950); Hughes et al. (2019); Hughes et al. (2021). Show full citations.
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© Richard & Teresa Ware | Tipularia discolor CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
© Bruce A. Sorrie | Tipularia discolor | Original Image ⭷