Appalachian Small Spreading Pogonia
Cleistesiopsis bifaria
Found in moist to fairly dry meadows, dry ridgetops under pines (where seasonally moist), fire-maintained oak-pine woodlands. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 76%
- Height
- Up to about 2.5 feet
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist

Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- May to July
- Fruiting season
- July to September
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 8 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open, grassy or flowery ground that is not wet, such as mountain meadows; wet meadows are separate.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food. 154 animals.
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina
- Downy WoodpeckerPicoides pubescens
- Eastern TowheePipilo erythrophthalmus
- Golden-crowned KingletRegulus satrapa
- Great Crested FlycatcherMyiarchus crinitus
- Hairy WoodpeckerPicoides villosus
- Northern BobwhiteColinus virginianus
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Purple FinchCarpodacus purpureus
- Ruby-crowned KingletRegulus calendula
- Spotted SandpiperActitis macularius
- Tufted TitmouseBaeolophus bicolor
- Yellow-bellied SapsuckerSphyrapicus varius
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black VultureCoragyps atratus
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Brown ThrasherToxostoma rufum
- Carolina ChickadeePoecile carolinensis
- Carolina WrenThryothorus ludovicianus
- Chuck-will's-widowCaprimulgus carolinensis
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
Who uses this plant?
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Orchidaceae
- Flower color
- Pink, purple or brown
- Fruit begins
- July
- Fruit ends
- September
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Pink, purple or brown” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Fruit begins · “July” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Height · “Up to about 2.5 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Cleistes bifaria; Cleistes divaricata; Spreading Pogonia
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G3G4 |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: South Central (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

























