FNA: Goodyera vs. Goodyera tesselata

Phenology

Flowering mid Jul–early Sep.

Habitat

More common in dry or moist, upland, coniferous or mixed woods, less frequent in white-cedar swamps, margins of spruce-tamarack bogs

Elevation

0–300 m (0–1000 ft)

Distribution

Nearly worldwide; primarily Southeast Asia; ca 16 species in Western Hemisphere

[BONAP county map]

CT; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; VT; WI; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Species 40–100 (4 in the flora).

The four species of Goodyera in the flora are sometimes difficult to distinguish, especially without flowers. This difficulty is compounded, even with flowers, by the intermediate nature of Goodyera tesselata, which is likely an allotetraploid derived from G. repens with white-reticulate leaves and G. oblongifolia, and by the presence of triploid hybrids in some mixed populations of the three species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Goodyera tesselata is almost completely restricted to once-glaciated areas in the Great Lakes region, the northeastern United States, and adjacent Canada.

Goodyera tesselata tends to be taller and to have larger leaves, more cauline bracts, more flowers, and longer perianths than Goodyera repens. Although overlap exists in any count or measurement, the two are, for the most part, easily distinguishable. Some of the difficulty in identifying ambiguous specimens is explained by the hypothesis (J. A. Kallunki 1976) that G. tesselata itself is intermediate between and a probable allotetraploid of G. repens with white-reticulate leaves and G. oblongifolia. Because the tetraploids and the triploid hybrids (2n = ca. 45) cannot be distinguished with certainty by their morphology, the description here includes individuals of both tetraploid and triploid individuals. In the extreme, individuals of G. tesselata (in the broad sense) approach G. repens more often than G. oblongifolia, and it is sometimes impossible to distinguish some triploids from G. repens with white-reticulate leaves.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key

1. Lip scrotiform, apex reflexed, no fleshy callosities on inner surface; rostellum notched; inflorescences cylindric (equally dense on all sides); leaves with midrib bordered by broad white bands and lateral veins traced with narrower white bands, both sharply demarcated from adjacent green tissue.	G. pubescens
1. Lip deeply concave or saccate, apex spreading or recurved, fleshy callosities on inner surface; rostellum with 2-pronged beak; inflorescences loosely spiraled or secund (infrequently cylindric); leaves uniformly green or reticulate with white or pale green on midrib and/or lateral veins.	→ 2
2. Leaf blades usually with only midrib whitened (infrequently with lateral veins, especially those near midrib, lightly penciled in white); sepals 5.7–7.8 mm; lip 4.9–7.9 mm; rostellar beak 2.3–3.6 mm; lip apex short, spreading or slightly arching with upright or involute margins.	G. oblongifolia
2. Leaf blades uniformly green or reticulate with white or pale green on lateral veins and sometimes midrib (very infrequently only midrib whitened in G. tesselata); sepals 3–6 mm; lip 1.8–5.5 mm; rostellar beak 1.7 mm or less; lip apex spreading or recurved with spreading margins.	→ 3
3. Lip narrowly saccate with elongate, recurved apex; rostellar beak 0.2–0.6 mm, shorter than body of stigma.	G. repens
3. Lip deeply concave with short spreading or recurved apex; rostellar beak 0.6–1.7 mm, equal to or longer than body of stigma.	G. tesselata