1. Malaxis unifolia Michx. (green adder’s mouth)

Pl. 114 i, j; Map 471

Plants with globose, bulblike corms. Flowering stems 8–35 cm long, with a raceme of 25–50 nonresupinate flowers at the tip. Leaf 1, near the middle of the flowering stem, green, shiny, herbaceous, glabrous, 3–8 cm long, sessile, broadly ovate to elliptic. Sepals 1.5–2.0 mm long, elliptic to lanceolate, green, spreading. Lateral petals 1 mm long, linear, green, recurved. Lip 1–3 mm long, broadly oblong, 2‑lobed at the tip, the notch between the lobes with a minute tooth, green. Column 0.5–1.0 mm long, yellow or greenish white. Stamen 1, staminodes lacking. Capsules spreading, 3–6 mm long, elliptic in outline, strongly ribbed. May–July.

Scattered in the Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions (eastern U.S. west to Texas; Canada, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean Islands). Mesic to dry upland forests, mostly on acidic substrates.

This inconspicuous orchid with its minute flowers is easily overlooked. There are no reports on the pollinators of M. unifolia, but another species in the genus is pollinated by fungus gnats.