Like the Phantom Orchid, The Spotted Coralroot has a mycorrhizal association with fungi but the plants are not completely without chlorophyll and vary in color from purple through reds and browns to clear yellow. The sepals and petals are usually orange-brown and the white lip (broad lower petal) is deeply 3-lobed and prominently marked with red-violet. The flower's spotted lower lip and the coral-like appearance of the branching underground rhizome combine to give the Spotted Coralroot its common name.
DISTRIBUTION: Decomposing leaf litter in shaded coniferous forests from NW Calif. and the Cascade Ranges to the Sierra Nevada, SW San Francisco Bay Area, and the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges; < 2800 m.
