BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Goodyera repens | Northern Rattlesnake Plantain 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Northern rattlesnake plantain is a native, perennial orchid.  It grows 3
to 14 inches (7-35 cm) tall.  The deciduous, green and white-mottled
leaves are 0.4 to 0.8 inch (1-2 cm) long, and the fruit is a capsule,
not quite 0.5 inch (1 cm) long.  The plant has thick, fiberous rhizomes
[7,8,18].

The flowers grow on a one-sided raceme, 1 to 3.5 inches (2-9 cm) long.
The perfect, zygomorphic flowers are white to pale green and only 4 to 5
mm long [7,18].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Northern rattlesnake plantain reproduces sexually by seed and
vegetatively by rhizomes [7,18].  Seeds require a mycorrhizal endophytic
fungus, (Ceratobasidium cornigerum) or (Rhizoctonia
goodyearae-repentis), to develop in the wild.  Noninfected plants will
grow in the laboratory if provided with sugar, but both nutrient uptake
and growth are more rapid in plants that are infected.  If a fungicide
is present, these rates decrease.  Mature plants seem to be independent
of the mycorrhizal relationship [1].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Northern rattlesnake plantain is found in cool, shady, moist coniferous
forests with a mossy component to the understory [3,8,18].  In Glacier
National Park, it is found in a mossy, open western larch (Larix
occidenatalis) forest at 4,400 feet (1340 m) [13].  In Colorado, it is
found at elevations of 8,000 to 9,500 feet (2700 to 3200 m) [7].

Other common associates of northern rattlesnake plantain are paper birch
(Betula papyrifera), prickly rose (Rosa acicularis), mountain cranberry
(Vaccinium vitis-idaea), bluejoint reedgrass (Calamogrostis canadensis),
bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), northern twinflower (Linneae borealis),
panicle bluebells (Mertensia paniculata), and feathermoss (Hyloconium
splendens) [3,4,12,15].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Obligate Climax Species

Northern rattlesnake plantain is a late-seral or climax species.  It is
normally found in stands 95 to 350 years in age [3,4].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Northern rattlesnake plantain flowers in late July and early August in
Montana [8,13].

Related categories for Species: Goodyera repens | Northern Rattlesnake Plantain