Platanthera stricta |
Platanthera integrilabia |
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canyon bog orchid, needle-spur green orchid, slender bog-orchid, slender rein orchid |
monkeyface, white fringeless orchid |
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Habit | Plants 18–100 cm. | Plants 50–80 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. |
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. |
Spikes | very lax to dense. |
rather lax. |
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, 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. |
2n | = 42. |
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Platanthera stricta |
Platanthera integrilabia |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | Flowering (Jun–)Jul–Aug. |
Habitat | Wet meadows, tundra, marshes, fens, stream banks, shores, ditches, seeping slopes, roadsides | Wet wooded flats, seeping slopes, marshes, sphagnum bogs |
Elevation | 0–2300 m (0–7500 ft) | mostly 100–700 m (mostly 300–2300 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; WY; AB; BC; YT
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AL; GA; KY; MS; NC; SC; TN
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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.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 560. | FNA vol. 26, p. 568. |
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 | Habenaria blephariglottis var. integrilabia, Habenaria correlliana |
Name authority | Lindley: Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 288. (1835) | (Correll) Luer: Native Orchids U.S. & Canada, 186. (1975) |
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