OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Asparagales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (2/8/20):
Tipularia discolor   FAMILY Orchidaceae   Go to FSUS key


SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Tipularia discolor   FAMILY Orchidaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 049-16-001:

Tipularia discolor   FAMILY Orchidaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Tipularia unifolia

 

COMMON NAME:
Cranefly Orchid


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    jkm0401e_03

January    Greenville County    SC

Each plant puts out a single leaf to absorb sunlight all winter, per Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962).

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

Roxanna Martin    rlm21212_cmp33

February    Spartanburg County    SC

Perennial from a swollen underground stem with only a few spongy roots, per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    jkm120403_369

April    Henderson County    NC

Holmes Educational Forest

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    jkm180728_3516

July    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

Flower scape has 20-40 flowers in a loosely arranged raceme, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_tipularia_discolor

July        

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

Gill Newberry    gn08_t_discolor_flowers

August        

Flowers greenish, lemon-yellow, rust-brown or purplish, on slender pedicels, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    jkm0308o_29

August    Greenville County    SC

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    jkm070802_013

August    Pickens County    SC

Flowers have narrow sepals and petals and are about 1/2-3/4" wide, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

Keith Bradley    kab_t_discolor_10558

August    Greenville County    SC

Caesars Head State Park

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

Keith Bradley    kab_t_discolor_2665

August    Henderson County    NC

Pisgah National Forest

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

Don Lewis    tdl_1354

August?    Greenville County    SC

Firefly Forest

Its loose arrangement and subdued flower colors provide camouflage, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History (Fowler, 2005).

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    jkm180926_5027

September    Greenville County    SC

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

Gill Newberry    gn11_tipularia_discolor

November        

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    jkm0312a_10

December    Greenville County    SC

Fruits are hanging ellipsoid capsules, about 0.5" long, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    jkm0312b_25

December    Greenville County    SC

The single leaf is green above and purplish beneath, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).

image of Tipularia discolor, Cranefly Orchid

JK Marlow    s031226_a

December    Greenville County    SC

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (2/8/20):
Tipularia discolor   FAMILY Orchidaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Tipularia discolor   FAMILY Orchidaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 049-16-001:
Tipularia discolor   FAMILY Orchidaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Tipularia unifolia

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

1517

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: In a wide variety of mesic to rather dry forests, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

map
Click here to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Simple
Basal: a solitary leaf

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Yellowish-brown
Bisexual
Bilaterally symmetrical
3 sepals, two lateral and one dorsal
3 petals, the two lateral similar and a third (the lip) enlarged
stamens and pistil fused together into a column
Inferior ovary

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Capsule

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME: