The Cranefly Orchid is native to the southeastern United States and occurs as far north as Michigan, as far south as Florida and west to Texas. Photo taken by Wendy Diaz on August 9, 2018 Asymmetrical flower features of Cranefly Orchid resembling a crane fly. Its common name refers to its flower features, which look like the stilt-like legs, slender body and wings of a Crane Fly and the asymmetrical, or twisted arrangement of these flowers resembles the splayed legs of a crippled Crane Fly perhaps. The Cranefly (crane-fly) or Crippled Cranefly Orchid is a member of the family Orchidaceae and the only species of the genus Tipularia (temperate terrestrial orchids) found in North America. Photo taken by Wendy Diaz on July 29, 2020 Cranefly orchid flower stems with buds (encircled) almost invisible under the beech tree.

This year, the four areas have between 2 to 7 stems per colony for a total of 15 flower stems. I marked these spots because the leaves disappear in early spring and for more than 2 months there is no visible evidence of the orchid’s existence until the flower stem pokes through the leaf cover in July. In 2018, we only observed one orchid flower stem (inflorescence) but this winter several distinctive leaves appeared beneath the beech tree in four areas around the drip line of the beech tree. The orchid plant is most easily identified in winter when its one leaf is present. The orchid flowers are tiny and delicate and blend in with the color of the leaf litter. I wrote about this very educational visit previously for the Durham Master Gardener Blog in November, 2018. I first became aware of its existence, only after representatives of the New Hope Audubon Society pointed to it as we toured my backyard during a Bird-Friendly Wildlife Habitat inspection. Perhaps of all the North Carolina wildflowers I have tried to photograph, the hardest by far is the diminutive and well-camouflaged Cranefly Orchid ( Tipularia discolor), which appears each August under my Beech ( Fagus sylvatica) tree.

Orchid that has hidden flowers in it