Downy rattlesnake-plantain, goodyérie pubescente

Neottia pubescens Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 4(1): 76. 1805; Peramium pubescens (Willdenow) MacMillan

Leaves: blade distinctly lined with white or greenish white on veins throughout, broadly elliptic to broadly ovate, 2.1–6.2 × 1.3–3 cm, apex acute or obtuse. Inflorescences 10–57-flowered, cylindric (equally dense on all sides); peduncle 11–35 cm. Flowers: lateral sepals 3.1–5.3 mm; petals distinct; hood 3.6–5.7 mm; lip scrotiform, 2.5–4.2 × 2.2–3.5 mm, apex reflexed, outer surface slightly tuberculate, inner surface with somewhat thickened veins, without glandular processes; anther inflexed, immersed in cup-shaped clinandrium, apex blunt; pollinia blunt; rostellum with marginal notch 0.1–0.4 mm deep; viscidium orbiculate. 2n = 26.

Flowering mid Jul--early Sep. Almost any wooded habitat with acid surface conditions; most frequent on moist humus soils in shady, upland woods of hemlock, pine, oak, or maple, less frequent in lowland woods, bogs, swamps; 0--1600 m; N.S., Ont., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Goodyera pubescens is very different in its lip and column morphology, phenolic constituents, and chromosome number (2n = 26) from other North American Goodyera species, indicating that it is not closely related to them.