Some of you guys may be familiar with the small whorled pagonia (Isotria medeoloides). It is a T&E species of great concern. This little plant has put the brakes on several projects that I know of. There are two other plants that it could be. Large whorled pagonia (I. verticillata) and Indian cucumber-root(Medeola virginia). I was in the field the other day and we had stopped to do a data station. While I was getting my veg I saw this guy (see pic).

I got real excited and also worried for our client. If this was SWP then cool for me, I just found a very rare plant, but bad for the client because it could push back any work they are planning.

I contacted an authority on SWP, because my references rely heavily on the flower to distiguish between small and large whorled. I was confident at this point that it was not M.v. Here is what she had to say:

"Hi Brandon!

Thanks for sending that photo, which, together with your description of the purplish stem, tells me that your plant is Isotria verticillata. Sometimes I have seen small (presumably young) vegetative I. verticillata with very little purple pigment in the stem. However, if I put a piece of white paper behind the stem, I can see a somewhat "dirty" color (in contrast to the whitish-green stem of an I. medeoloides stem). In your photo I can also see a small purplish pigmented area in the very center of the whorl that I. m. wouldn't have either.

Another vegetative character that can be used with some degree of success to distinguish the two is the number and color of tiny bracts that can be seen on the lower stem or at the very base of the stem. Both species have three or four bracts, but in I. medeolodes all of them (greenish in color) can be seen above the soil line; in I. verticillata, one or two bracts (purplish in color) are usually visible ( the other two are usually beneath the soil line).

In the springtime the whorls of the two can be distinguished by color. That of I. m. is a "ghostly" gray-green due to glaucousnous while I. v.'s is green-green (because it isn't glaucous). As the season wears on, though, I.m. can lose is glaucousness. I see the color of a springtime I.m. whorl as very much like the color of the leaves of white oak seedlings that often share the forest floor with it.

I'm always very pleased to find I verticillata. It is a handsome plant, and as far as I'm concerned it isn't truly "common"."

So it is LWP. Still very cool. I wish it had been in flower and I had also brought the better camera. I thought some of you may be interested and her distinguishing characteristics between the two not using the flower are very helpful.

Cheers.

Great post, thanks for the information. We need more of this type of content in the forum.

Thanks Tommy. I couldn't agree more.