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C. Peirce

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In forests with beech (and usually other trees, such as sugar maple, hemlock, oak). Beech-drops is often said to grow “under” beech (Fagus), but that is a half-truth; more importantly, as its generic name declares, it grows over (upon) the roots of beech, its only known host plant.

Blooming in late summer (late August–September), the dead dry stems of the previous season are reasonably conspicuous through the winter and into the next summer. Most of the flowers are usually cleistogamous (setting fruit in the bud), but nearly always there are at least a few open (chasmogamous) flowers toward the ends of the flowering branches. Simple stems are usually recognized in the field as depauperate individuals of a population; most plants are branched, the flowering portion occupying more than half the height, which may be as tall as 60 cm. Like Corallorhiza maculata, this species produces various color forms besides the most common reddish purple to brownish form (including stripes on the chasmogamous flowers), including forms that were yellow with white flowers, “ivory white,” and “cream colored.”

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