Plants 10-65 cm. Corms 7-30 (-50) mm diam. Stems scapose, glabrous, basally 1-2-sheathed. Leaves persisting over winter; petioles 3-15 cm; blade purple abaxially, green or greenish purple adaxially, ovate, 5-10.5 × 2.5-7 cm. Inflorescences 8-28 cm; floral bracts 0.2 mm. Flowers green, pale greenish yellow, or greenish purple, (5-)10-55; sepals distinct and free, oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, 5-8 × 1.5-2.8 mm; petals linear-oblong to oblong-elliptic to linear-oblanceolate, 4-7 × 1-1.8 mm; lip 5-8 × 2.5-3 mm, with 2 prominent basal lobes, spur 10-23 mm; column 2.5-4 mm. Capsules 9-12 × 4-5 mm. Flowering Jun (north)--Sep (south). In humus-rich soil of deciduous woodlands; frequently in sandy, acid oak-pine woods of Southeast, often in depressions under sweet gum; 0--1000 m; Ala., Ark., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va. Tipularia discolor is pollinated by noctuid moths, the pollinaria attaching to either the left or right compound eye depending on whether the column of a particular flower is slightly twisted to the left or to the right (W. P. Stoutamire 1978). Tipularia unifolia Britton, Sterns & Poggenberg is an illegitimate name.
Lf basal, 5-10 נ2.5-7 cm, somewhat plicate, green above, purplish beneath, on a 5 cm petiole, withering in the spring; scape produced in midsummer, 2-5 dm, very slender; infl 1-2 dm; fls many; sep and lateral pet 4-8 mm, pale greenish-purple with purple veins, spreading, one pet overlapping the dorsal sep; lip pale purple, 4-8 mm, its basal lobes nearly semicircular, erose, with forwardly directed tip, the terminal lobe linear, arcuate, its margins revolute, the apex minutely notched; spur 15-22 mm; column 3-4 mm; fr pendulous. Rich damp woods; se. Mass. and s. N.Y. to s. Mich., s. to Fla. and e. Tex. June-Aug. (T. unifolia)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.