Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens)
The downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens) is one of eastern North America’s native orchid species. It occurs in the entire eastern half of the U.S. and Canada from Ontario and Quebec south to Oklahoma, Mississippi and Florida. Commonly found growing in dry to moist upland forests, the downy rattlesnake plantain has a circular arrangement of leaves close to the ground, called a basal rosette, and a single flowering stalk that rises up from the center. The green oval leaves are…