Spotted Coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata, Orchid family About a
mile from the trail head at Spring Creek, these little orchids
are just beginning to bloom. They are widespread and common at
low to mid elevations in moist and wet climates in most of the
U.S. and Canada, although I suspect they are often overlooked.
They are listed as “of special concern”, “threatened” or
“endangered” in 7 states. Their genus Corallorhiza (the
Coralroots) are saprophytic, deriving their nutriments from
decaying organic material and do not have the chlorophyll used
by most plants for food production. As with most saprophytes,
they cannot be cultivated and because of their dependency on
decaying matter, they may be abundant in one part of the forest
one year and completely absent the next.