Spiked Crested Coralroot: A Mysterious Native Orchid You Can’t (and Shouldn’t) Grow
Meet one of North America’s most enigmatic native orchids: the spiked crested coralroot (Hexalectris spicata var. spicata). This isn’t your typical garden-center orchid, and frankly, that’s probably for the best. This fascinating perennial forb has evolved such specific survival strategies that it’s virtually impossible to cultivate in home gardens—but that doesn’t make it any less remarkable.
What Makes This Orchid So Special (and Stubborn)?
The spiked crested coralroot is what botanists call a mycoheterotrophic plant, which is a fancy way of saying it’s given up on the whole photosynthesis thing. Instead of producing its own food through green leaves, this clever orchid has formed an intricate partnership with soil fungi to get its nutrients. The result? A leafless plant with yellowish-brown to purplish stems that emerges from the forest floor like something from another world.
This native beauty belongs to the forb family—vascular plants without significant woody tissue that keep their growing points at or below ground level. As a perennial, it returns year after year, though you’d be lucky to spot it even if you knew where to look.
Where to Find This Elusive Native
The spiked crested coralroot is native to the lower 48 states and can be found across a surprisingly wide range, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
However, don’t let that extensive range fool you. This orchid is considered rare in many areas—it holds an S2 (imperiled) rarity status in Arkansas, meaning it’s at risk due to limited distribution and declining populations.
Why You Can’t Grow It (And Why That’s Okay)
Here’s the thing about mycoheterotrophic plants: they’re essentially married to their fungal partners. The spiked crested coralroot depends entirely on specific mycorrhizal fungi that exist in undisturbed forest ecosystems. These fungi, in turn, have their own complex relationships with tree roots and soil chemistry that simply cannot be replicated in a garden setting.
Attempting to transplant or cultivate this orchid would be like trying to move a small piece of an entire forest ecosystem to your backyard—it just doesn’t work. The plant would quickly perish without its fungal partners and the intricate web of relationships that keep it alive.
The Rarity Factor: Handle with Care
Given its rarity status, the spiked crested coralroot needs our protection, not our cultivation attempts. If you’re lucky enough to encounter one in the wild, the best thing you can do is admire it from a distance and leave it undisturbed. Attempting to collect or move these plants contributes to their decline and is often illegal in protected areas.
Better Alternatives for Orchid Lovers
If you’re enchanted by the idea of growing native orchids, consider these more garden-friendly alternatives:
- Pink lady’s slipper (Cypripedium acaule) – With proper care and patience, these can sometimes be established in woodland gardens
- Showy orchis (Galearis spectabilis) – A spring-blooming beauty that’s more tolerant of cultivation
- Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) – Not an orchid, but a native groundcover that thrives in similar woodland conditions
Appreciating Nature’s Mysteries
Sometimes the best way to grow a plant is to protect the wild spaces where it naturally occurs. The spiked crested coralroot serves as a reminder that not every beautiful native species belongs in our gardens—some are meant to remain wild, mysterious, and free.
If you’re interested in supporting native orchid conservation, consider volunteering with local botanical societies, supporting land conservation efforts, or participating in citizen science projects that help track rare plant populations. That’s how we can truly help these remarkable plants thrive for future generations to discover and wonder at.
The next time you’re hiking through the eastern or central United States, keep an eye out for this elusive beauty. And if you’re fortunate enough to spot one, count yourself among the lucky few who have witnessed one of North America’s most specialized native orchids in its natural element.
