Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Small

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Common

About

A single mottled purple-and-green leaf appears each winter and withers before the leafless flower spike rises in summer, its blooms shaped like tiny crane flies. The flowers are asymmetric, sticking pollen packets onto the eyes of visiting owlet moths as they feed at night.

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

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Asparagales

Family

Orchidaceae

Genus

Tipularia

Species

Tipularia discolor