The generic name is from Greek and means "beautiful beard", referring to the cluster of hairs adorning the labellum.

Most species of Calopogon frequent wet, sunny swales, bogs, and the edges of marshy areas, and associate with ferns, sedges, grasses and forbs.

The brushy, yellow protuberances on the lip are also designed to attract pollinators, but they only tempt without providing a reward.

To add injury to insult, the flower then snaps closed when a potential pollinator lands on it, and the insect has to crawl out of the tight quarters between the lip and the reproductive parts below in order to escape, hopefully pollinating the flower in the process.

[2] The other deception they use is their frequent association with nectar-bearing flowers of the same color; Calopogon is often an associate of the magenta marsh phlox, in the northern United States, the phlox bearing nectar to reward curious insects while the deceptive but showy Calopogon does not.