Plants (15-)31-76 cm (in flower). Leaves: blades on flowering stems, 33-150 × 5-23 mm. Flowers: sepals 31-65 × 3-5.5 mm; petals 27-53 × 5-19 mm; lip (26-)34-55 × 18-24 mm, central keel relatively thin or evidently thin-winged, 3-4 mm wide, deeply and broadly grooved, groove 1.5 mm deep, smooth with 1-3 low, continuous ridges; column 21-25(-29)mm. Capsules (35-)40-65(-80) × 5-10 mm. 2n = 18.
Flowering May (Fla.)--Jul (Del.). Coastal Plain savannas, in acidic soil; 0--200 m; Del., Fla., Ga., Md., N.J., N.C., S.C., Va.
Slender, 2-6 dm; lf long-sheathing, the blade sessile, oblong-linear, obtuse, 5-11 cm נ8-20 mm, bracteal lf similar but smaller; fl peduncled, somewhat nodding; sep linear, purple-brown, 3-6 cm; lateral pet pink to rose-purple, oblanceolate, 3-5 cm, recurved at the tip; lip slightly exceeding the pet, greenish, purple-veined. Swamps and wet woods, mostly on the coastal plain; N.J. to Fla. and Tex.; also inland to e. Ky. and e. Tenn. June, July. (Pogonia d.)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.