Flora of North America species comparison

Northwestern plants commonly treated as Platanthera hyperborea var. viridiflora (Chamisso) Kitamura (note Kitamura’s priority over Luer) are P. huronensis; Chamisso’s name furthermore is synonymous with P. stricta. Aleutian and coastal Alaskan plants are often short, stout, and broad-leaved, and they have incorrectly been referred to 9. P. convallariifolia.

Platanthera huronensis as here delimited does not auto-pollinate in the manner of P. aquilonis. Occasional plants and populations that may be referable to P. huronensis, however, exhibit the movement of pollinia typical of P. aquilonis. These plants might reflect infraspecific variation within an allotetraploid species, result from hybridization, or constitute a distinct taxon. The relationship of some of these plants to P. hyperborea needs study.

Platanthera huronensis is typically intensely fragrant with the sweet, pungent scent of some related species.

Platanthera huronensis is known to hybridize with P. dilatata; it may hybridize with other species as well. Although hybrids of P. dilatata and P. aquilonis may occur, the name traditionally used for them, P. ×media (Rydberg) Luer is a synonym of P. huronensis. See notes under 10. P. aquilonis and 8. P. hyperborea.

(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.)