A rare member of the orchid family listed as a federally threatened has been found in Vermont, where it has not been seen since 1902. The Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife says the orchid, known as the small whorled pogonia, was discovered on Winooski Valley Park District conservation land in Chittenden County. Exact location information is being withheld to protect the plant from collectors.

The small whorled pogonia is also found in parts of Maine and New Hampshire, where it lives along forest edges. The plant’s historical range once included Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia.