Platanthera stricta
Platanthera chapmanii
canyon bog orchid, needle-spur green orchid, slender bog-orchid, slender rein orchid
Chapman's fringe orchid
few–several, abruptly diverging or sometimes ascending, scattered along stem;
blade oblong to ovate or rarely linear-lanceolate, 3–32 × (0.6–)1–4.5 cm.
1–3, spreading to ascending, abruptly or gradually reduced to bracts distally;
blade linear-lanceolate or lanceolate to lance-oblong, 15–26 × 1–3 cm.
very lax to dense.
rather dense.
resupinate, not showy, green to yellowish green;
lateral sepals spreading to reflexed;
petals ovate- to lance-falcate, margins entire;
lip descending to somewhat reflexed or projecting, linear to lanceolate, without basal thickening, 3–9 × less than 1–3 mm;
spur strongly clavate, capitate-inflated, or scrotiform, 2–6 mm, apex obtuse;
rostellum lobes approximately parallel to convergent, directed downward, very small, rounded, obscure;
pollinaria straight;
pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs;
viscidia orbiculate;
ovary rather slender to stout, mostly 5–10 mm.
resupinate, showy, orange to pale dull yellow;
dorsal sepal entire or emarginate;
lateral sepals reflexed;
petals linear to obovate, apically fringed to merely lacerate-dentate;
lip porrect, ovate to ovate-orbiculate, without basal thickening, 5–10 × 4–9 mm, margins deeply filiform-fringed;
spur slenderly cylindric, 8–17 mm;
rostellum lobes directed downward, distally retrorse, digitate;
pollinaria with stalks recurved;
pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs;
viscidia orbiculate to suborbiculate;
ovary slender, 10–19 mm.
= 42.
Platanthera stricta
Platanthera chapmanii
Flowers of Platanthera stricta are evidently mostly scentless or only faintly spicy.
The plants here treated as Platanthera stricta have in common more or less saccate spurs, orbiculate viscidia, and leaves that abruptly diverge from the stem, often at angles approaching 90º (this feature is sometimes obscured in sheltered, deeply shaded habitats). The plants described as P. gracilis Lindley are florally typical of the slender-spurred extreme of P. stricta; they differ only in peculiarly reduced, slenderly oblong but nonetheless abruptly wide-spreading leaves. The plants figured by C. A. Luer (1975) as P. hyperborea var. gracilis (Lindley) Luer are not referable to P. stricta but rather are apparently hybrids of P. stricta and P. dilatata. Critical study of the description of Habenaria borealis var. viridiflora Chamisso and an evident isotype show this plant to be referable to P. stricta, although the name has been applied to P. huronensis in the Northwest and to P. convallariifolia in Japan. See also the discussion under 9. P. convallariifolia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
as hybrid
The retrorse rostellum lobes of Platanthera chapmanii usually separate small-flowered plants of this species from P. cristata, which normally presents the viscidia forward on only slightly curved lobes. Additionally, the nearly circular mouth of the spur of P. chapmanii is in contrast to the triangular opening of P. cristata. Until recently P. chapmanii was confused with the hybrid of P. ciliaris and P. cristata, P. ×channellii Folsom, which is readily recognized by its angular rostellum lobes that are directed forward and outward, presenting the viscidia forward, as in its parents (J. P. Folsom 1984).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
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Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
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