Platanthera obtusata |
Platanthera dilatata |
|||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
blunt-leaf bog-orchid, blunt-leaf rein-orchid, blunt-leafed rein orchid, bluntleaf orchid, northern small bog orchid, one-leaf rein-orchid, small northern bog-orchid |
bog candles, bog-candle, boreal bog-orchid, fragrant white bog orchid, fragrant white rein orchid, rein orchid, scent-bottle, white bog orchid, white northern bog-orchid, white orchid, white rein-orchid |
|||||||||
Habit | Plants 5.5–35 cm. | Plants 11–130 cm or more. | ||||||||
Leaves | 1(–2, rarely), spreading-ascending on base of stem; bracts 0(–1, rarely); blade linear-oblanceolate, elliptic, or broadly obovate, 3.5–15 × 0.8–5 cm. |
few–several, ascending to recurved-spreading, scattered along stem, gradually reduced to bracts distally; blade linear, linear-lanceolate, oblong, or oblanceolate, 3.5–32 × 0.3–7 cm. |
||||||||
Spikes | lax. |
very lax to very dense. |
||||||||
Flowers | resupinate, not showy, greenish white to yellowish green; corolla commonly whiter than calyx; lateral sepals reflexed; petals rhombic, lanceolate-falcate, margins entire; lip descending, linear, narrowly lance-rhombic, or linear-hastate, with median basal thickening, unlobed, 2.5–8(–10) × less than 1–2 mm, margins entire; spur slenderly conic, 3–8(–10) mm; rostellum lobes directed forward, wide-spreading, rounded-angular; pollinaria straight; pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs; viscidia orbiculate; ovary rather slender to stout, mostly 3–10 mm. |
resupinate, rather showy, conspicuous, white; lateral sepals spreading to reflexed; petals ovate- to linear-lance-falcate, margins entire; lip descending or apex adhering to dorsal sepal and petal apices, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, without basal thickening, 4–11 × 2–5 mm, base slightly rounded-dilated to orbiculate, rarely rhombic, margins entire; rostellum lobes parallel to slightly divergent, directed downward, very small, obscure, rounded; pollinaria straight; pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs; ovary rather slender to stout, 5–15 mm. |
||||||||
2n | = 42, 63 (American, as Habenaria obtusata), 126 (Eurasian, as Habenaria obtusata). |
= 42. |
||||||||
Platanthera obtusata |
Platanthera dilatata |
|||||||||
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | |||||||||
Habitat | Mesic to wet coniferous forest, forested fens, sphagnum bogs, stream banks, tundra, moist roadsides | |||||||||
Elevation | 0–3500 m (0–11500 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AK; CO; ID; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NY; OR; UT; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Eurasia [Platanthera obtusata subsp oligantha]
|
North America
|
||||||||
Discussion | The rare Eurasian Platanthera obtusata subsp. oligantha (Turczaninow) Hultén differs from the North American subsp. obtusata in its smaller dimensions and rhombic-lanceolate lip. It is also said to be densely few-flowered, although some Siberian material is comparable to American plants. Supposedly intermediate plants are reported from Alaska, and much material from that area is reduced in stature and with smaller flowers than typical of American plants. In most cases, however, lips are relatively slender, and the plants seem merely to be stunted by their environment. One or two collections from the Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutians, however, seem entirely referable to subsp. oligantha with dense, few-flowered inflorescences of very small flowers with rhombic-lanceolate lips and shorter curved spurs. Eurasian plants are reported to be hexaploid or perhaps sometimes triploid, and if the apparent ploidy differences delimit the taxa, then it should be possible to unequivocally identify Alaskan plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 556. | FNA vol. 26, p. 556. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Orchis obtusata, Habenaria obtusata, Habenaria obtusata var. collectanea | Orchis dilatata, Habenaria dilatata, Limnorchis dilatata | ||||||||
Name authority | (Banks ex Pursh) Lindley: Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 284. (1835) | (Pursh) Lindley ex L. C. Beck: Bot. North. Middle States, 347. (1833) | ||||||||
Web links |
|