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Calling out a plant name while walking with a companion in high vegetation or remote rustic areas may bring the same reaction as yelling "fire" or simply saying "hi Jack" in an airport terminal.

Organisms have been given common names, which no longer make much sense, or never did.

Several plants, rattlesnake plantain and rattlesnake master, are common flora in Southwest Wisconsin.  In fact, rattlesnake plantain is one of our most common orchids, having a wide range of growing situations and plant groupings.

One must look hard to see where someone saw a connection with this plant's woodland appearance to the reptile.  Maybe the person first saying the name was actually calling out the animal's name, having seen one on the footpath while looking at the plantain, too.

Rattlesnake!  Plantain.

Modern explanations (guessing) of the common name may refer to the resemblance of vein patterns on the prostate leaves to scales on snakeskin, almost any snake.

The shock treatment certainly has a way of a name sticking with someone, associating it with an orchid with a foot-tall flowering stalk and reticulated-looking leaves flat on the forest floor.

Talk about a workable mnemonic, but then that's what common names should do.

The plant's genus name is Goodyera, named for John Goodyer.