Corallorhiza maculata

Spotted coralroot

Family: Orchidaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Spotted coralroot is a California native perennial orchid found throughout the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains in mixed conifer and broadleaf forests at elevations of 500 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from May to August, this delicate orchid produces yellow-brown to deep pink or red flowers with distinctive dark spots, each bloom featuring a white lip marked with red or purple markings. Growing 17 to 55 centimeters tall with stems ranging from red to yellow-brown, the plant emerges as a slender, somewhat translucent orchid without green leaves. Its flowers feature spreading sepals 5.5 to 10 millimeters long, with a white lip 5 to 7 millimeters wide that has two rounded lateral lobes and a crenate or toothed tip. The fruit develops 15 to 20 millimeters long, completing the plant's distinctive reproductive cycle.

California counties: Humboldt, Butte, Fresno, Riverside, Placer, San Bernardino, San Diego, Siskiyou, Shasta, Lassen, Alameda, Tuolumne, Kern, Amador, Madera, Mariposa, Sierra, Trinity, Tulare, Plumas, Calaveras, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Marin, El Dorado, Mono, Inyo, Nevada, Modoc, Tehama, Sonoma, Monterey, Lake, Del Norte, Santa Clara, Napa, Alpine, Colusa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.