Please, never pick or attempt to transplant 
Orchids (or any other) wild plant. 
Click to purchase plants from legitimate plant nurseries.
Many Orchids are endangered.
Orchid habitat is very specialized.
Orchid pollination is very specialized.
Orchid germination is very specialized.
Admire plants in the wild and let them live.

Also see Calypso bulbosa, Epipactis gigantea, Cypripedium parviflorum, and Green Orchids.

Click for Scotty Smith's Orchids of Colorado.

Blooming information withheld to protect the Orchids.

These delicate Orchids grow on eight to twenty inch tall showy maroon stalks, but yellow forms of this species (pictured below) are not unusual.  Corallorhiza maculata prefers shady Aspen and Conifer forests where its coral-resembling roots feed off the forest floor fungi and roots of other plants: the Orchids are thus parasitic.

These Orchids (and other Orchids) were formerly considered saprophytic but research showed that no plants are saprophytic; those thought to be saprophytic are actually parasitic, living off fungi which in turn are parasitic on the roots of living plants.

Corallorhiza maculata occurs with just one or two stalks or dozens, and the stalks remain upright and obvious long after the flowers are gone.  Where you find one plant, you will almost certainly find more nearby.

In 1789 the Orchid Family (Orchidaceae) was named by Antoine Jussieu elevating Linnaeus genus name, "Orchis", to the name of the family. Linnaeus used the Greek word "orchis", meaning "testicle", because of the shape of the roots. The Corallorhiza genus was named by Jean Chatelain, probably in the late 1700s.   In 1817 Constantine Rafinesque named this species which was collected from "shady woods of Long Island, near Flatbush, Flushing, Oyster-Bay, etc." by an unidentified collector.  (Quotation from Rafinesque in Intermountain Flora.)

"Corallorhiza" is Greek for "coral root" and "maculata" is Latin for "spotted".

Corallorhiza maculata variety maculata (Spotted Coralroot)
Orchidaceae (Orchid Family)

Flowers of Corallorhiza maculata are variably spotted, one-half inch high, and numerous. 

Corallorhiza maculata variety maculata (Spotted Coralroot)
Orchidaceae (Orchid Family)

The first photographs at left show the fairly common yellow-stemmed forms of C. maculata. These forms can easily be confused with C. trifida which tends to have lighter stems than those of Corallorhiza maculata. See below for a discussion of the differences in the two species.

The remaining photographs at left show other stages of unfolding flowers and finally the drooping seed pods.

Pods hold a myriad of minute seeds.

Corallorhiza maculata (Yellow variety of Spotted Coralroot)
Orchidaceae (Orchid Family)

In Orchid expert Scotty Smith's words, it is "uncommon to see" the yellow variety of C. maculata shown at left.

My photographs do not show enough detail, however, to determine if the Orchid is Corallorhiza maculata var. occidentalis forma immaculata or Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata forma flavida. The latter designation is favored by Ron Hanko who alerted me to my mistake in previously naming the plant in these photographs, Corallorhiza trifida. I thank both Ron and Scotty for their assistance.

Corallorhiza wisteriana (Wister's Coralroot)
Orchidaceae (Orchid Family)

Because Corallorhiza wisteriana is quite slender, no more than about 9 inches tall, and occurs in scattered patches in leaf litter, it is difficult to find. But it is fairly common in its preferred habitats throughout the mountains of the Four Corners area. Pleasant patient searching is rewarded.

Stems of Corallorhiza wisteriana are typically, as shown in the photographs, a brown-red to dark maroon, but Orchid expert Scotty Smith indicates that "many color forms exist of the orchid, including light yellow, green, pink, and red".

Although the petals appear to be bright white, a close look with a hand lens will show spots similar to, but much fainter than those of C. maculata. (In their type locale and habitat in the eastern United States, Corallorhiza wisteriana has much more prominent spots). C. wisteriana and C. maculata also differ in that the lip on Corallorhiza wisteriana does not have the eared tabs that are present on Corallorhiza maculata.

Corallorhiza wisteriana was described and named by Solomon Conrad for Charles Wister who first collected this species for science in 1828 in what is now a patch of freeways in Philadelphia. Click to read more about Wister.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Corallorhiza maculata  

Range map for Corallorhiza striata

Range map for Corallorhiza trifida

Range map for Corallorhiza wisteriana