This late-blooming Coral-root is more pretentious than the following species, and its brownish-purple blossoms are fragrant and more Orchid-like. The stouter flower stalk is stained with purple, and grows from eight to twenty inches high, bearing several tight-fitting scales in place of leaves. From ten to thirty erect flowers are gathered in a terminal spike. The petals are narrow and somewhat spotted, and, together with the sepals, are slightly united at the base. The deeply three-lobed oval lip is wavy-edged, and its colour is white, spotted and lined with purple. The middle lobe is broadest and the apex is curved. The yellowish spur is rudimentary, and the plant bears no leaves. The large, much branched root is strikingly coral-like in shape. This parasite is found blooming in woods from July to September, and ranges from Florida, Missouri, and California northward into the fur countries. Occasionally, pale flowers may be found, without the usual spotting on the lip, petals or sepals.