Platanthera ciliaris
Platanthera stricta
orange fringe bog-orchid, yellow fringe orchid
canyon bog orchid, needle-spur green orchid, slender bog-orchid, slender rein orchid
2–4, spreading to ascending, gradually to somewhat abruptly reduced to bracts distally;
blade lanceolate to lance-elliptic, 5–40 × 0.6–6 cm.
few–several, abruptly diverging or sometimes ascending, scattered along stem;
blade oblong to ovate or rarely linear-lanceolate, 3–32 × (0.6–)1–4.5 cm.
rather dense.
very lax to dense.
resupinate, showy, orange;
dorsal sepal entire or rarely emarginate;
lateral sepals reflexed;
petals linear to linear-cuneate, margins apically fringed;
lip porrect to descending, oblong to broadly ovate-spatulate, without basal thickening, 8–19 × 4–18 mm, margins deeply filiform-fringed;
spur slenderly cylindric, rarely slightly clavate, 20–35 mm;
rostellum lobes scarcely to markedly curving forward, slightly spreading, angular-elongate;
pollinaria with stalks nearly straight to curved forward;
pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs;
viscidia orbiculate;
ovary slender, 12–27 mm.
resupinate, not showy, green to yellowish green;
lateral sepals spreading to reflexed;
petals ovate- to lance-falcate, margins entire;
lip descending to somewhat reflexed or projecting, linear to lanceolate, without basal thickening, 3–9 × less than 1–3 mm;
spur strongly clavate, capitate-inflated, or scrotiform, 2–6 mm, apex obtuse;
rostellum lobes approximately parallel to convergent, directed downward, very small, rounded, obscure;
pollinaria straight;
pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs;
viscidia orbiculate;
ovary rather slender to stout, mostly 5–10 mm.
= 42.
Platanthera ciliaris
Platanthera stricta
Selection for longer spurs in response to local pollination pressures on the southeastern Coastal Plain has been documented in Platanthera ciliaris, but the extent of variation is minimal, and the situation does not appear to be comparable to that in P. blephariglottis.
Hybrids of Platanthera ciliaris with P. blephariglottis are P. ×bicolor (Rafinesque) Luer and with P. cristata are P. ×channellii Folsom; until recently the latter was confused with P. chapmanii (J. P. Folsom 1984).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Flowers of Platanthera stricta are evidently mostly scentless or only faintly spicy.
The plants here treated as Platanthera stricta have in common more or less saccate spurs, orbiculate viscidia, and leaves that abruptly diverge from the stem, often at angles approaching 90º (this feature is sometimes obscured in sheltered, deeply shaded habitats). The plants described as P. gracilis Lindley are florally typical of the slender-spurred extreme of P. stricta; they differ only in peculiarly reduced, slenderly oblong but nonetheless abruptly wide-spreading leaves. The plants figured by C. A. Luer (1975) as P. hyperborea var. gracilis (Lindley) Luer are not referable to P. stricta but rather are apparently hybrids of P. stricta and P. dilatata. Critical study of the description of Habenaria borealis var. viridiflora Chamisso and an evident isotype show this plant to be referable to P. stricta, although the name has been applied to P. huronensis in the Northwest and to P. convallariifolia in Japan. See also the discussion under 9. P. convallariifolia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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