This is widely scattered across eastern North America, except the lower Mississippi Valley. However, in much of its range it is a rare remnant of native grassland onseasonally damp and strongly acid soils. In Ky. it is almost exinct, with scattered records from eastern and central regions. The only observations after 1980 have been from MCRE, PULA and WHIT. The record from WHIT (not LAUR as reported by Libby et al., 1997) is a photograph (GH), since the population was so small. D. Goldman has recently described C. oklahomensis from widely scattered sites, mostly in the Mississippi River watershed (FNA 26). This new species is known from c. Tenn. and n. Ill., and might have occurred in w. Ky. It differs in the near simultaneous opening of its flowers (versus sequential); the distal portion of middle lip is usually much narrower than long (versus usually much wider than long), triangular to broadly rounded (versus typically anvil-shaped); the stigma is typically flat against column surface (versus at angle); corms are elongate and forked (versus globose to elongate, not forked), and they may be able to survive unfavorable conditions for longer periods (D. Goldman, pers. comm.).