Platanthera grandiflora
Platanthera aquilonis
northern green bog orchid
25–40 cm tall.
cauline, 2–4, 5–14 × 1–3 cm; lower leaves clasping stem; upper leaves becoming bracts within the inflorescence, green through anthesis.
densely to loosely 20–40-flowered.
yellowish green; more or less spreading;
dorsal sepal ovate, 3–7 × 2–4 mm;
lateral sepals elliptic-lanceolate and oblique, 3–6 × 1–3 mm, spreading to reflexed;
petals ovatelanceolate; sickle-shaped, 3–6 × 1–3 mm;
lip rhombic-lanceolate, basally dilated; dull yellowish, 2.5–6 × 2–3 mm, descending or the apex caught in the tip of the converging dorsal sepal and petals;
spur more or less equal in length to lip; cylindrical and tapering, 4–6 mm.
Platanthera grandiflora
Platanthera aquilonis
Wet meadows, roadside ditches, streamsides, fens, seeps, springs. Flowering May–Aug. 1500–1900m. BW. CA, ID, NV, WA; most of Canada and the northern US. Native.
Flowers of P. aquilonis commonly self-pollinate: the pollen masses often obviously contact the stigma in mature flowers. Platanthera aquilonis and P. huronensis can generally be distinguished from one another, in the field, by the dull yellow lip in the former and the whitish green lip in the latter. Unfortunately, this character is often indiscernible on pressed specimens.
James Riser
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
