Platanthera stricta |
Platanthera convallariifolia |
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canyon bog orchid, needle-spur green orchid, slender bog-orchid, slender rein orchid |
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Habit | Plants 18–100 cm. | Plants 15–27 cm. |
Leaves | 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. |
few–several, ascending to rather wide spreading, scattered along stem or commonly loosely clustered on distal portion, gradually reduced to bracts distally; blade elliptic-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, 4.5–12 × 0.7–2.5 cm. |
Spikes | very lax to dense. |
moderately dense. |
Flowers | 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, not showy, sometimes conspicuous, whitish green, perhaps more yellowish on lip; lateral sepals spreading; petals ovate-falcate, margins entire; lip descending, linear to lance-linear, without basal thickening, 4–9 × 1–2 mm, margins entire; spur slenderly to markedly clavate, rarely more slender, 4–8 mm, apex obtuse; rostellum lobes widely divergent, directed downward, slightly angular, very small, obscure; pollinaria straight; pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs but apparently often fragmenting; viscidia oblong to oblong-spatulate or elliptic-suborbiculate; ovary slender to stout, mostly 6–10 mm. |
2n | = 42. |
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Platanthera stricta |
Platanthera convallariifolia |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | Flowering late Jun–early Aug. |
Habitat | Wet meadows, tundra, marshes, fens, stream banks, shores, ditches, seeping slopes, roadsides | Wet meadows, tundra, marshes, fens, stream banks, shores, seeping slopes |
Elevation | 0–2300 m (0–7500 ft) | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; WY; AB; BC; YT
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AK; Asia (Kamchatka to Hokkaido)
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Discussion | 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.) |
Platanthera convallariifolia is commonly reported from the Aleutians and adjacent coastal Alaska based on short, very broad-leaved plants with rather large flowers in dense, thick inflorescences. Those plants, however, apparently represent robust, maritime phenotypes of P. huronensis or in some cases P. stricta or P. dilatata comparable to those seen in Piperia elegans and Spiranthes romanzoffiana. In fact, typical Asiatic Platanthera convallariifolia is a slender-leaved plant entirely comparable in habit to P. huronensis. The two species are very similar, and they share a tetraploid chromosome number. Typical Asiatic P. convallariifolia is characterized by a linear lip and clavate spur about 2/3 to nearly the length of the lip. The lip occasionally varies to slightly lanceolate and the spur to somewhat saccate. The column appears somewhat broader than in P. huronensis, and viscidia also are apparently rather broad. A few specimens from the Aleutians and Alaskan peninsula exhibit these floral characteristics. Vegetatively, however, some Alaskan material is distinctive in the position and orientation of the leaves. In floral and vegetative characters, Alaskan plants furthermore intergrade with P. huronensis. Whether Alaskan plants are truly referable to P. convallariifolia is uncertain, and the status of the Asiatic species also needs study. Both P. convallariifolia and the Alaskan plants here referred to it appear to combine features of P. huronensis and P. stricta. Platanthera convallariifolia may have arisen through hybridization of these two species, or of P. stricta and P. dilatata, thus accounting for the difficulty in identification. The description presented here is based on few Alaskan plants and is apt to be too restrictive; therefore the poor understanding of the plant makes the present delimitation and distinctions from P. huronensis rather arbitrary. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 560. | FNA vol. 26, p. 559. |
Parent taxa | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Orchideae > subtribe Orchidinae > Platanthera |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Habenaria borealis var. viridiflora, Habenaria saccata, Limnorchis stricta, P. gracilis, P. hyperborea var. viridiflora, P. hyperborea var. viridiflora, P. saccata | Limnorchis convallariifolius |
Name authority | Lindley: Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 288. (1835) | Fischer ex Lindley: Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 287. (1835) |
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