Platanthera blephariglottis |
Platanthera zothecina |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
white fringe orchid, white-fringe bog-orchid |
alcove bog orchid |
|||||
Habit | Plants 8–110 cm. | Plants 24–38 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. |
few, scattered along stem, sometimes restricted to proximal portion, wide-spreading, gradually to abruptly reduced distally; bracts 1 or absent; blade oblanceolate, narrowly elliptic, oblong, or ovate-elliptic, 7–17 × 1.8–3.5 cm. |
||||
Spikes | dense to rather lax. |
rather lax. |
||||
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. |
resupinate, not showy, green to yellowish green; lateral sepals reflexed to somewhat spreading; petals ovate-falcate, margins entire; lip descending or reflexed, linear-lanceolate to linear-lance-elliptic, 5–12 × 1–3 mm, margins entire, midline scarcely (perhaps variably) thickened toward base; spur slenderly cylindric, 12–17 mm; rostellum lobes divergent, directed forward, rounded-subangular, rather prominent; pollinaria straight; pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs; viscidia orbiculate to suborbiculate; ovary rather slender to stout, 9–16 mm. |
||||
Platanthera blephariglottis |
Platanthera zothecina |
|||||
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | “Hanging garden” communities on moist to wet, dripping sandstone cliffs and ledges, occasionally springy sites, riparian meadows | |||||
Elevation | 1200–1700 m (3900–5600 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
e North America
|
AZ; CO; UT |
||||
Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Only recently described, the original publication separated Platanthera zothecina from P. sparsiflora solely on the basis of the former’s spur/lip length ratio of 1.5 and few-flowered habit. In fact, the range in ratios overlaps, with a range of at least 1.3–2.6 in P. zothecina and 0.7–1.6 in P. sparsiflora. Actual spur lengths are more useful for determination, and perhaps more significant, because they may indicate specialization for different pollinators; the very limited overlap in spur lengths supports recognition of P. zothecina. Other features support the separation. The thickened median ridge toward the base of the lip characteristic of P. sparsiflora seems to be lacking in P. zothecina, which instead seems to display a parallel series of low ridges, but this distinction unfortunately cannot be established with certainty from the limited sample available. The columns should be investigated in detail, for a limited sample suggests differences in orientation of anther sacs and rostellum lobes. Platanthera sparsiflora is often fewer flowered than P. zothecina, but the typically few-flowered inflorescences of the latter distal to the broad, spreading, and commonly succulent leaves of an often peculiar whitish green color, contribute a markedly distinctive appearance to the plant. Because of the restricted distribution of Platanthera zothecina and its recent description, the species is poorly known; the description here is based on few specimens and hence apt to be too restrictive. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 567. | FNA vol. 26, p. 562. | ||||
Parent taxa | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Orchis blephariglottis, Habenaria blephariglottis | Habenaria zothecina | ||||
Name authority | (Willdenow) Lindley: Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 291. (1835) | (L. C. Higgins & S. L. Welsh) Kartesz & Gandhi: Phytologia 69: 134. (1990) | ||||
Web links |