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monkeyface, white fringeless orchid

Habit Plants 50–80 cm.
Leaves

2(–3), spreading to ascending, on basal portion of stem, abruptly reduced to bracts distally;

blade lanceolate to elliptic, 12–23 × 1–3.2 cm.

Spikes

rather lax.

Flowers

resupinate, showy, white;

lateral sepals reflexed;

petals oblong, margins entire;

lip porrect, spatulate to lance-spatulate, without basal thickening, 10–15 × 2.5–4 mm, margins slightly lacerate to subentire;

spur slenderly cylindric, scarcely clavate, 35–60 mm;

rostellum lobes directed forward, spreading, angular;

rostellum lobes slenderly curving forward, slightly spreading, angular-elongate, long;

pollinaria with stalks curved forward;

pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs;

viscidia orbiculate;

ovary slender, ca.16–22 mm.

Platanthera integrilabia

Phenology Flowering (Jun–)Jul–Aug.
Habitat Wet wooded flats, seeping slopes, marshes, sphagnum bogs
Elevation mostly 100–700 m (mostly 300–2300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; GA; KY; MS; NC; SC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

The description of Platanthera integrilabia is based on a limited sample and is likely too restrictive.

Flowers of this species are nocturnally sweet-scented. The vegetative habit is distinctive, with leaves restricted to the base of the stem and a relatively few-flowered inflorescence borne atop a tall bracted scape. In addition to the normal tuberoid, roots often enlarge distally to form bud-bearing tuberoids at a marked distance from the parent stem, giving rise to diffuse clonal colonies.

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

Source FNA vol. 26, p. 568.
Parent taxa Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera
Sibling taxa
P. aquilonis, P. blephariglottis, P. brevifolia, P. chapmanii, P. chorisiana, P. ciliaris, P. clavellata, P. convallariifolia, P. cristata, P. dilatata, P. flava, P. grandiflora, P. hookeri, P. huronensis, P. hyperborea, P. integra, P. lacera, P. leucophaea, P. limosa, P. macrophylla, P. nivea, P. obtusata, P. orbiculata, P. peramoena, P. praeclara, P. psycodes, P. purpurascens, P. sparsiflora, P. stricta, P. tipuloides, P. zothecina
Synonyms Habenaria blephariglottis var. integrilabia, Habenaria correlliana
Name authority (Correll) Luer: Native Orchids U.S. & Canada, 186. (1975)
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