Puttyroot is a native woodland orchid of eastern North America, the only species in its genus, found tucked into the shaded slopes, ravines, and sugar maple forests where it has quietly persisted for centuries. What makes it remarkable is its seasonal inversion: a single leaf emerges in late November and holds through March, making the most of winter sunlight filtering through a leafless canopy. That leaf is worth seeing up close — deeply pleated and pin-striped with alternating silvery-white and green bands, unlike anything else on the forest floor. By the time spring arrives and the leaf fades, a flowering stalk emerges in late May or June bearing delicate pale yellow-toned blooms with no fragrance and no nectar.

Beneath the soil, Puttyroot spreads through linked corms connected by rhizomes, and these paired corms are the source of both its common names: the sticky substance inside once repaired broken pottery, and the paired corms suggested Adam and Eve. Growing 1 to 2 feet tall in zones 3 to 8, it suits the shade garden well, particularly on slopes and near water. Plant it in groups in dappled light and disturb it as little as possible once established. Sweat bees are thought to pollinate it, though the mechanism is imperfectly understood, and that slight mystery feels appropriate for a plant this particular about when and how it chooses to be seen.