Platanthera blephariglottis |
Platanthera blephariglottis var. conspicua |
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white fringe orchid, white-fringe bog-orchid |
white fringe orchid |
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Habit | Plants 8–110 cm. | Plants 35–110 cm. | ||||
Leaves | 2–several, spreading to ascending, scattered along stem, rather abruptly to gradually reduced distally; blade linear-lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, 5–35 × 1–5 cm. |
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Spikes | dense to rather lax. |
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Flowers | resupinate, showy, white; lateral sepals reflexed; petals linear to oblanceolate, apex fringed to nearly entire; lip reflexed to porrect, without basal thickening, ovate-oblong to oblong-elliptic, rarely quadrangular-suborbiculate, margin fringed; spur essentially cylindric, slender; rostellum lobes curving forward, slightly spreading, angular-elongate; pollinaria with stalks curved forward; pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs; viscidia elliptic-suborbiculate to orbiculate; ovary slender, 10–28 mm. |
lip 9–26 × 4–9 mm; spur 30(–48)–50 mm, slenderly cylindric to commonly somewhat clavate; ovary 18–31 mm. |
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Platanthera blephariglottis |
Platanthera blephariglottis var. conspicua |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Sep. | |||||
Habitat | Moist to wet sandy and peaty meadows, marshes, pine savannas, open woods | |||||
Elevation | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
e North America
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AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; TX |
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The widespread Platanthera blephariglottis var. blephariglottis tends to have a dense inflorescence of smaller flowers with the descending to reflexed lips rather simply fringed (in extreme cases scarcely more than deeply lacerate). In contrast, the typically open, lax inflorescence of var. conspicua bears larger flowers often with an exquisitely elaborate filiform fringe on the porrect lips. Although typical plants of the two varieties are quite distinctive, most characters vary considerably within and between the varieties and can be misleading. In contrast, spur length seems to be unambiguous, and insofar as it reflects specialization for different pollinators, upon further study it may be shown to delimit distinct species. Additionally, in the limited area in which the two varieties occur together, var. conspicua may bloom somewhat later than var. blephariglottis. Hybrids of Platanthera blephariglottis with P. ciliaris are P. ×bicolor (Rafinesque) Luer and with P. cristata are P. ×canbyi (Ames) Luer. The unusual and rare hybrid P. blephariglottis × P. clavellata is P. ×vossii Case. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 567. | FNA vol. 26. | ||||
Parent taxa | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera > Platanthera blephariglottis | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Orchis blephariglottis, Habenaria blephariglottis | Habenaria conspicua | ||||
Name authority | (Willdenow) Lindley: Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 291. (1835) | (Nash) Luer: Native Orchids Florida, 140. (1972) | ||||
Web links |