Platanthera integrilabia
Platanthera praeclara
monkeyface, white fringeless orchid
Great Plains white fringe orchid, western prairie fringe orchid
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.
several to many, ascending, scattered along stem, imperceptibly reduced to bracts distally;
blade lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, to 26 × 5 cm.
rather lax.
lax.
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.
resupinate, showy, creamy white;
lateral sepals somewhat porrect;
petals flabellate, truncate, sometimes emarginate, apically lacerate;
lip descending, deeply 3-lobed, without basal thickening, 17–32 × 20–39 mm, distal margins of lobes deeply incised and fringed, lateral lobes flabellate, sometimes broadly and overlapping middle lobe, middle lobe flabellate, sometimes very broadly, emarginate;
spur slenderly clavate, 36–55 mm;
rostellum lobes directed strongly forward, wide-spreading, angular;
pollinaria geniculate;
pollinia directed forward (column appearing hooded), remaining enclosed in anther sacs;
viscidia orbiculate;
ovary slender, mostly 20–30 mm.
= 42.
Platanthera integrilabia
Platanthera praeclara
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.)
Of conservation concern.
In Platanthera praeclara the wide-spreading rostellum lobes separate the viscidia by 6–7.5 mm, whereas in P. leucophaea the short rostellum lobes are more nearly parallel, and the viscidia are separated only by about 1–3.5 mm. These differences are immediately obvious on living material, but the measurements are nearly always impossible in herbarium specimens.
In Wyoming Platanthera praeclara is known from a single, much higher station outside the usual range.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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