Carter’s orchid

Carteria corallicola Small, Torreya 10: 188. 1910; Basiphyllaea angustifolia Schlechter

Plants to 40 cm. Roots 1–1.5 mm diam. Stems tubers, horizonal, ellipsoid-conic, 10–20 × 5–10 mm. Leaves: blade linear to linear-elliptic, 9–24 cm × 1–6.5 mm, slightly fleshy. Inflorescences scapose, 14–36 cm × 0.5–1 mm; bracts 2–3; racemes to 10 cm; floral bracts lanceolate, 2–3 mm. Flowers 1–10, nodding; sepals and petals yellow-green; sepals flat, 5-veined, linear-lanceolate, 8–13 × 2–3 mm, margins entire, apex acute; lateral sepals slightly falcate, otherwise similar; petals 4-veined, linear-elliptic, slightly thinner than sepals, 8–12.5 × 2–2.5 mm; lip white, sometimes with pink markings along margin, 7–10 × 5–6 mm when spread, middle lobe obovate, 3 × 3 mm, apex retuse, broadly apiculate, lateral lobes rounded, 1–1.5 mm short of lip apex, sinuses narrow, 1–1.5 mm deep; disc lamellae 5, middle 3 extending to middle lobe; column semiterete, 4–5 mm, basal wings flanking shallow, lyre-shaped cavity; pedicellate ovary 5–7 mm. Capsules 10–15 mm.

Flowering Sep--Nov. Open pineland savannas and hammocks, in humus over limestone; of conservation concern; 0--20 m; Fla.; West Indies.