Giant Rattlesnake Plantain

Regular price: $5.95
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Goodyera oblongifolia

Giant Rattlesnake Plantain is a woodland orchid with low-growing rosettes that thrives in part-to-full shade and moist, well-drained, organic-rich soils. Throughout the year, its deep green, evergreen leaves are beautifully marked with pale, netted veining. In the summer, it sends up slender stems topped with a cluster of fragrant white flowers, which may coyly be facing the same direction on the stalk or whimsically spiraled around it. This small but mighty orchid supports late-season pollinators, enhances biodiversity and enhances soil complexity through symbiotic mycorrhizal relationships.

Plant type/canopy layer: evergreen, perennial, herbaceous plant
Size at maturity: 6”-16” tall, 6” wide
Light requirements: full sun to part shade
Moisture requirements: dry to moist soil, prefers fast to med drainage
Bloom time: July - September (July - August in the Portland Metro area)
Growth rate/ease: fast growing, moderately difficult to grow
Wildlife support: flowers attract and provide nectar to adult butterflies, bees and other insect pollinators
Native habitat/range: found in mountain forests, often in the understory of conifers, from sea level to 2300m, across much of North America, particularly the western side of the continent from Alaska to Mexico, as well as eastern Canada. In Oregon and Washington, it grows on both sides of the Cascades crest. Portland Plant List - Yes.
Special features & uses:
- Improves soil health and complexity - Rattlesnake plantain develops symbiotic relationships with specific families of fungi. Together they exchange photosynthetic products (carbon) for essential nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), aiding in the creation nutrient-rich, moist, and acidic soil conditions favored by both organisms.
- Ethnobotany - According to the Washington Native Plant Society, “The Cowlitz, Okanagan-Colville, Okanagon, Saanich, and Nlaka'pamux Pacific Northwest tribes have taken an infusion of plants as a tonic. A poultice of softened leaves was applied to skin cuts and sores. The plant has been chewed by women during childbirth. An infusion of leaves has been used in bathwater to relieve muscle aches and pains”.

Gardening with Giant Rattlesnake Plantain: Give this diminutive cutie a new home in part-to-full shade areas of your woodland garden that have moist, well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter, especially soils influenced by leaf litter or conifer needles. Help it thrive by watering it consistently throughout the summer months for the first couple years, but be sure not to waterlog it. Avoid soil disturbance, mulch lightly with natural leaf litter and be patient, as this orchid establishes slowly and resents transplanting. Try it as a refined ground layer in your woodland habitat garden, tucked among deer ferns (Blechnum spicant), wood ferns (Dryopteris expansa and D. arguta) and native understory plants like streambank violet (Viola glabella), celery-leaved lovage (Ligusticum apiifolium), piggy-back plant (Tolmiea menziesii) and slender-foot rush (Carex leptopoda), where its patterned foliage can be appreciated up close. In the right setting, this orchid slowly spreads, forming a small patch.