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pearl orchid, slender white piperia, white-flower rein-orchid

Habit Plants 10–60 cm.
Stems

uniform toward base, 0.7–3.5 mm diam. distal to leaves;

bracts 2–5(–10).

Leaves

prostrate to erect-spreading;

blade 5–18 × 1.1–3.5 cm.

Inflorescences

sparsely flowered, ± secund, (2–)10–30 cm;

rachis shorter than or equal to peduncle;

bracts 3–10 mm.

Flowers

white, fragrance faint, harsh to honeylike;

sepals oblong-elliptic, 1.8–3.5(–4.5) × 1–1.9 mm;

dorsal sepal projecting to ± recurved;

lateral sepals deflexed, ± twisted;

petals usually projecting forward and ± connivent, white, midvein faintly green, asymmetrically lanceolate, 2–4 × 1 mm;

lip recurved, triangular-ovate, (1.5–)2–3(–4 mm) × 1–2.8 mm;

spur curved, tapered, 1.5–4 mm;

viscidia broadly elliptic to ovate, 0.3–0.6 × 0.2–0.4 mm;

rostellum ± elongate.

Capsules

5–9 mm.

Seeds

cinnamon brown.

2n

= 42.

Piperia candida

Phenology Flowering late spring–summer (May–Aug).
Habitat Conifer and mixed evergreen forests, chaparral, sometimes on serpentine soils, not more than 150 km from coast
Elevation 0–1500 m (0–4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

The flowers in Piperia candida are more completely white and more ephemeral than in any other member of the genus.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 26, p. 574.
Parent taxa Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Piperia
Sibling taxa
P. colemanii, P. cooperi, P. elegans, P. elongata, P. leptopetala, P. michaelii, P. transversa, P. unalascensis, P. yadonii
Name authority Rand. Morgan & Ackerman: Lindleyana 5: 207, figs. 1H–N, 2. (1990)
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