Puttyroot is a native woodland orchid that inhabits the wooded slopes, ravines, moist forests, and bottomlands of the eastern half of North America, including southern Pennsylvania and some counties further north. It can often be found in colonies of many individual plants that are linked underground by rhizomes. When crushed these rhizomes release a glue-like substance that was used to mend broken pottery hence the name 'putty-root'. 

Each individual shoot arises from a single corm, often found in pairs or small clusters connected by slender rhizomes. In autumn, the oldest corm produces a single pleated, pin-striped basal leaf, elliptic and marked by thin, parallel white veins, which persists through winter and withers just before delicate pale yellow-purple flowers emerge in late spring. In Pennsylvania, puttyroot blooms from May to August.

In spring, puttyroot sheds its overwintering leaf and produces a tall, smooth flowering stalk, rising from a basal sheath. This stalk may bear up to 16 pale green or pale yellow flowers with dark pink tips. Though the flowers lack nectar, various species of bees and other insects have been observed visiting them and may assist with pollination. In their absence, the flowers are capable of self-pollination. After pollination, each flower forms an oblong capsule filled with minute seeds. Later in the year, the capsule splits open, releasing the seeds to be carried away by the wind. 

Propagation of puttyroot is primarily done by transplanting a corm from an existing plant, as growing new plants from seed is extremely difficult due to their reliance on specific mycorrhizal fungi. The roots thrive in neutral to acidic soil, often in rich woodland humus. The secondary name, ‘Adam and Eve,’ refers to how the corms are frequently found in paired clusters — an older and a younger corm side by side.