Platanthera lacera |
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green fringe bog-orchid, green fringe orchid |
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Habit | Plants 14–80 cm. |
Leaves | 1–4, wide-spreading to ascending, scattered along stem, gradually to abruptly reduced to bracts distally; blade linear-lanceolate, linear-oblong, or oblong-obovate, 7–23 × 0.7–5 cm. |
Spikes | lax to dense. |
Flowers | resupinate, not showy to inconspicuous, whitish green or yellowish green, lip often paler; lateral sepals reflexed; petals linear to narrowly oblong-spatulate, margins entire or apex rarely slightly lacerate; lip descending, without basal thickening, deeply 3-lobed, 10–17 × 13–17 mm, lobes extensively and deeply divided, commonly into filiform divisions, margins rarely merely fringed or middle lobe merely lacerate-fringed, lateral lobes narrowly to broadly cuneate, middle lobe cuneate-flabellate, usually narrow; spur slenderly to markedly clavate, 11–23 mm; rostellum lobes nearly parallel, directed downward, short, rounded; pollinaria nearly straight; pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs; viscidia linear; ovary slender to stout, mostly 8–20 mm. |
2n | = 42. |
Platanthera lacera |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. |
Habitat | Sphagnum bogs, alluvial and swamp forests, stream banks, riparian meadows, sand flats, moist and seeping slopes, prairies, roadside banks, ditches, old fields, borrow pits |
Elevation | 0–1200 m (0–3900 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC
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Discussion | Hybrids with Platanthera grandiflora (P. ×keenanii P. M. Brown; see note under 20. P. grandiflora) and P. psycodes [P. ×andrewsii (M. White) Luer] are variably intermediate between the parents, with various purple-green shadings and lobes of the lip generally narrower and more dissected than in the purple-flowered parents. The linear viscidia of P. lacera and the large anther sacs of P. grandiflora provide means for determination. The ratio of viscidium length/width of 1–3.2 distinguishes hybrids and purple-flowered parents from P. lacera, which is characterized by a ratio of 2.7–4.6. The parentage of hybrids can be determined by different sized anther sacs: P. ×andrewsii, 1.4–2.3 mm; P. ×keenanii, 2.5–4.2 mm. Those hybrids can be distinguished from their purple-flowered parents by less intense coloring and the ratio of viscidium length/width: P. psycodes 1–1.5; P. ×andrewsii, 1.3–3; P. grandiflora, 1–1.5; P. ×keenanii, 1.5–3.2. The plants known as Platanthera lacera var. terrae-novae (Fernald) Luer (Habenaria lacera var. terrae-novae Fernald) apparently represent swarms of P. ×andrewsii and introgressed P. lacera (P. M. Catling and V. R. Catling 1994). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 566. |
Parent taxa | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Orchis lacera, Habenaria lacera |
Name authority | (Michaux) G. Don: in R. Sweet, Hort. Brit. ed. 3 650. 189 |
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