Downy Rattlesnake Plantain
Downy Rattlesnake Plantain
Goodyera pubescens
Plantae
COMMON

Stats

Lifespan
Perennial
Size
Small
Diet
Photosynthetic
Biome
Temperate forest
Range
Eastern North America
Movement
Sessile
Breeding
Seeds
Defense
Camouflage
Status
Common

About

A low evergreen woodland orchid whose dark green leaves are etched with a silvery-white net of veins resembling snakeskin, giving the plant its name. It sends up a single spike of small white fuzzy flowers in late summer.

Life cycle

  1. 1.
    seed
    A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
  2. 2.
    sprout
    A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
  3. 3.
    sapling
    A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
  4. 4.
    mature
    Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Tracheophyta
Class
Liliopsida
Order
Asparagales
Family
Orchidaceae
Genus
Goodyera
Species
Goodyera pubescens