Spotted coralroot; Corallorhiza maculata

Found this July 10, 2014, on the Gore Trail on the way to Red Buffalo Pass. It is an orchid, but a saprophyte, lacking chlorophyll and living off the mucelium of Russula mushrooms. Interesting. One web page says: “Although fairly common. Spotted Coralroot is somewhat difficult to locate.” Since then I have seen it often, and there is a particularly nice group of 50 that comes up every year not far from my house.