Flower:

Erect raceme of 6 to 50, ½-inch flowers. Flaring at the top is a central sepal flanked by a pair of petals, with two lateral spreading sepals just below them, the sepals slightly longer than the petals. The tips, edges and outer surface are a deeper brownish purple, often greatly contrasted against much lighter and more brownish yellow ovaries and stem as well as the inner sepal and petals surfaces. The lower lip is white with purple spotting, the larger central lobe is oblong rectangular shaped with an even width through the middle with straight sides, a wrinkled surface and wavy tip curling under, with two short oval lobes at the base. The pollen sacs hug the inside of a curved center column.

The large conspicuous ovary and short stalk is subtended by a very short triangular bract 1 mm or less in length.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are reduced to several overlapping sheathes on the lower stem. Smooth throughout, leaves and stem range in color from pale to deeper brownish yellow. Stems are single to multiple clusters.

Fruit:

Ovaries develop into hanging elliptic capsules, typically yellow to yellowish brown at maturity.

Notes:

In Minnesota, Spotted Coralroot shares the eastern half of Western Spotted Coralroot's (C. maculata var. occidentalis) northern forest range but extends down into our southeastern counties as well. Where they overlap, their habitats are similar enough, though it is rare to find them growing in close proximity. Features that differentiate them are the shape of the lower lip and size of the small lance shaped bract at the base of each flower stalk. The lower lip of var. maculata is more squarish, the sides straight and more or less parallel to each other (1.5-4.5 mm wide) with only the tip wavy ruffled and curled under. The small, narrow lance-shaped bract at the flower stalk base is difficult to observe with the naked eye being 1 mm or less in length. Whether true across all populations within its range or not, in our observations of var. maculata in Minnesota, color of the upper stem and ovaries range more from yellowish to  yellowish brown with only the floral tips typically deep brownish purple. The fruits are also more consistently yellow to yellowish brown when mature, where var. occidentalis is typically more red throughout. Also note that var. maculata starts flowering almost a month later than var. occidentalis and extends its bloom period into August whereas the latter is typically done by late July.