6. Goodyera R. Brown, Hortus Kew. 5: 197. 1813.
Rattlesnake-plantain, lattice-leaf, goodyérie [for John Goodyer, 1592–1664, British botanist]
Jacquelyn A. Kallunki
Herbs, terrestrial, rhizomatous, scapose, glabrous except for rather sticky, multicellular hairs on peduncles, bracts, sepals, and ovaries. Roots arising from nodes of rhizome, fibrous. Stems erect, with rosette of leaves, not succulent. Leaves evergreen, more than 1, in basal rosette, petiolate; blade commonly marked with white to pale green. Inflorescences terminal, 5–72-flowered spikes, erect; peduncles with sheathing bracts. Flowers resupinate, white, sometimes tinged green, ivory, or brown, sessile; sepals distinct, nearly equal; dorsal sepal and petals forming hood; lip free from column, fleshy, base concave to saccate, apex ligulate or pointed; anther 1, erect or inflexed; pollinia 2, sectile; rostellum notched or 2-pronged. Fruits capsules, erect, dehiscing along 3 ribs.
Species 40–100 (4 in the flora): nearly worldwide, primarily Southeast Asia; ca. 16 species in Western Hemisphere.
The four species of Goodyera in the flora are sometimes difficult to distinguish, especially without flowers. This difficulty is compounded, even with flowers, by the intermediate nature of Goodyera tesselata, which is likely an allotetraploid derived from G. repens with white-reticulate leaves and G. oblongifolia, and by the presence of triploid hybrids in some mixed populations of the three species.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Kallunki, J. A. 1976. Population studies in Goodyera (Orchidaceae) with emphasis on the hybrid origin of G. tesselata. Brittonia 28: 53–75. Kallunki, J. A. 1981. Reproductive biology of mixed-species populations of Goodyera (Orchidaceae) in northern Michigan. Brittonia 33: 137–155.
