Platanthera hyperborea - (image 1 of 4)
Taxonomy
Family: Orchidaceae
Habitat
Bogs, fens and wet woods. Calcareous springy areas. Mesic sand prairies.
Associates
Distribution
Greenland and Iceland to AK, south to NJ, PA, IN, NE and NM.
Morphology
Erect, stout perennial to 1 m. Leaves alternate, cauline; lowest leaf bladeless; principle leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, the upper smaller and passing into the bracts. Flowers numerous in a terminal, compact, elongate spike; bracts lanceolate, the lower surpassing the flowers; flowers greenish-white; lip simple, entire, lance-ovate, blunt, gradually widened towards the base; lateral petals lance-ovate, incurved under the upper sepals; spur slender, equal to the lip.
Notes
Flowers June to July
Wetland indicator: Facultative Wetland +
Protected in several states. The USDA seems to split this into several species, and consider it synonymous with what it is calling Platanthera aquilonis Sheviak, reserving P. hyperborea for plants occurring in Greenland and Alaska. The plant pictured would probably apply to var. huronensis (Nutt.) Farw., and the USDA refers to this as Platanthera huronensis (Nutt.) Lindl.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
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Michael Hough © 2009 |