Mixed moist forests of conifers and hardwoods (e.g., balsam fir and paper birch) or, more often, mostly coniferous forests (balsam fir and cedar, spruce and balsam fir, hemlock), especially characteristic of old beach ridges under conifers near the shores of the Great Lakes; usually more or less shaded; also in drier cedar forests on thin soil over limestone. 

This is one of our most delicate and beautiful wildflowers, very local in occurrence (colonies of hundreds, as on Isle Royale, a truly handsome sight!). It deserves all of the protection which can be given to it (and the places where it grows). The sepals and upper petals are normally pink or magenta, but occasionally pure white or apricot; the lip is strongly lined with deep purplish, spotted toward the white (rarely pink) “apron,” which bears a yellow beard apically. Almost all records in the Lower Peninsula are historical.

Our eastern North American plants are var. americana (R.Br.) Luer.