Corallorhiza striata

Striped coralroot, Striped Coralroot

Family: Orchidaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Striped coralroot is a California native orchid found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, San Francisco Bay Area, and North Coast Ranges in open to shaded mixed-evergreen or conifer forests at elevations of 100 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from February to July, this plant produces pale yellow-brown flowers with distinctive red to purple longitudinal stripes on sepals and petals. Growing 15 to 50 centimeters tall with stems generally red-brown to purplish, this mycoheterotrophic orchid lacks chlorophyll and grows in decomposing leaf litter. Its lip is 8 to 15 millimeters long, entire, and pale yellow-brown, with a column 4 to 7 millimeters tall that is yellow and purple-spotted. The fruit develops 12 to 25 millimeters long, completing its distinctive reproductive cycle.

Habitat: Open to shaded mixed-evergreen or conifer forest, in decomposing leaf litter

Bloom period: Feb-Jul

Elevation: 100-2200 m

Bioregions: NW (exc NCoRI), CaR, SN (exc Teh), SnFrB, MP

California counties: Humboldt, Lassen, San Mateo, Lake, Tuolumne, Plumas, Marin, Madera, Mariposa, El Dorado, Trinity, Fresno, Modoc, Placer, Butte, Nevada, Tehama, Contra Costa, Napa, Del Norte, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Calaveras, Santa Clara, Mendocino, Sierra, San Diego, Shasta, Sonoma, Monterey

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