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Are you 100% sure that this is Aplectrum hyemale?
The single leaf image on the same page certainly looks right.
However, in this photo the color and the definition looks more like Tipularia discolor ... veins are not as rigid, color is not as dark green-grey and the very defined accordian look is missing.
Is it just the time of year that makes it look so different, or is it possibly the Cranefly orchid?
I have not yet had the pleasure of seeing blooms, but our tidewater Virginia yard is filled with the Putty-root orchid. Our land is heavily wooded and fairly damp.
Attaching a photo of the underside of one of our Putty-root orchid leaves.
I am 99.99% sure this is Aplectrum hyemale. The Tipularia discolor is less common here and the underside of its leaf is much more distinctly purple.
The leaves in the photo of the Aplectrum patch are very accordian ribbed. Also the seed pods you can see in the picture are exactly like the one in my book "Wildflowers of North Carolina" by Justice, Bell and Lindsey.
Judging by the leaf litter and when the picture was added, this picture was taken in mid fall shortly after the leaves emerge.
The snow melted and I went back to the same patch of Aplectrum hyemale, the Puttyroot Orchid and took some closer shots. The leaf shape and coloration is quite similar to the Tipularia discolor in general, but this and the original photo is for sure Aplectrum hyemale. They bloom in the summer, like June, when the leaf is most likely gone and the forest floor is a thick carpet of green. You have to hunt for the flower. The leaf is easy to spot in the winter when it is up because there isn't much of anything else green out there.
The photo at Post #5830648 by 'ilima' is superb for showing the difference to be seen between Cranefly and Puttyroot. The very fine and dense whitish lines on a long leaf will be Puttyroot, with no purple on the back. The more broad and oddly, sharply bumpy leaves with few lines will be Cranefly. Cranefly does not like wet soil; Puttyroot almost requires it, perhaps in a ravine setting if not bottomlands. Puttyroot is more associated with at least less acid soil, too. The flowers are very different in detail, though the general arrangement is similar and like our Fringe orchids.
