Corallorhiza
trrifida, harajuuri
Corallorhiza trifida belongs to those orchids in Finland, which
have almost no chlorophyll and which are therefore totally depenting on
theyre mycorrhiza.
This species only gets some green colour when the seeds are starting
to form, and Corallorhiza also propably assimilates then.
Corallorhiza is about 10 cm or 4" heigh, fresh green or brown
plant. The flowers are small, guite beautyful and theyre lip is white.
There are few flowers per plant, usually no more than ten. The plant lives
from its Rhizome. That has a form of corals and is very fragile. There
are no real roots (despite the Finnish common name, harajuuri = spreadroot)
and the mycorrhiza coming out from the rhizome gives Corallorhiza
its water and nutriense. Sometimes the whole ground of some woods can be
fylled with rhizomes of Corallorhizas. In good years there might
be hundreds of flowering plants, in other years none. As mentioned before,
Corallorhiza can use light to grow its large seedpods, this i
s
only species of Finnish "saprophyte" which is able to do that. Corallorhiza
can be found from wet Picea-woods, where it is not very rare. I
have seem the personal dry seedbods of this species also from a open marsh,
but it is exeptional.
Corallorhiza is common in whole Finland, althought it might sometimes be hard to find.
Corallorhiza flowers in May-June, but plants with seeds are easiest to find from July on.
