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Tipularia discolor
Crippled Cranefly
Cranefly Orchid
Florida native
Threatened Florida species
An occasional terrestrial orchid of hammocks and ravine forests in the panhandle and inland north Florida counties as far south as Marion. The range extends throughout the southeast west into Texas and Oklahoma, northwest into Arkansas and Illinois, north into Wisconsin and northeast into New York and Massachusetts.
The crippled cranefly orchid has a single leaf that appears in the fall and is absent in midsummer when the plant is flowering. This leaf is ovate 8-10cm (3-1/8 to 4in.) long and 6-7cm (2-3/8 to 2-3/4 in.) wide on a petiole about 5cm (2 in.) long. The top of the leaf is dark green with raised dark purple spots. The underside is dark purple. Apparently plants with leaves that are green on both sides have been found in Marion County and are considered forma viridifolia. The stem can be 25-60cm (~10 to 24 in.) tall. Twenty to forty flowers form in a loose raceme at the top of this stem. The petals an sepals are similar, a greenish-yellow tinged and mottled with purple often with a lopsided arrangement. There is a spur 2.5-3cm (~1 in.) long.
This is the only species of the Tipularia genus in North America and the specific name discolor refers to the leaves having different colors on each side.
Tipularia discolor is a member of the Orchidaceae - Orchid family.
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Aug 11, 2022
