Flower:

Spike-like raceme of 11 to 76 irregular flowers at the top of the stem. Flowers are about 2/3 inch long from tip of upper hood to tip of lower petal, green or tinged purple. The upper sepal is oval to round and with the smaller, more crescent shaped lateral petals and sepals forming a hood. The lower petal is more yellowish, long, almost rectangular, hanging down with a notch at the tip, forming 2 lobes. The inconspicuous spur is a small round ball behind the base of the lower lip.

The leaf-like flower bracts are conspicuous and lance-like to linear. Lower bracts can be 2 to 3 times the length of the flowers, becoming progressively smaller towards the end of the spike.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are 2 to 5 inches long, 1½ to 2½ inches wide, toothless and hairless, elliptic to oblong with a blunt point, sheathing the stem at the base, becoming smaller and more lance shaped up the stem, 2 to 6 leaves per stem. Stems are unbranched and smooth, with a few sheathes near the base below the leaves.

Notes:

This is one of the most common orchids in the world. Records of Long-bract Frog Orchid are widespread across Minnesota but it is most prevalent in upland hardwood forest along the tension zone between the western prairie and eastern forest, often on steep slopes. Development and land use has extirpated it from many of its historical locations so it is now much more rare than the distribution map indicates. This species was formerly known as Dactylorhiza viridis or Coeloglossum viride var. virescens. Flora of North America, our definitive reference, has dropped the var. designation. It most closely resembles Tuberculed Rein Orchid (Platanthera flava var. herbiola), which has a lower lip with a rounded tip and a protrusion near the base, and shorter bracts.