Platanthera stricta

Lindley

Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 288. 1835.

Endemic
Synonyms: Habenaria borealis var. viridiflora Chamisso Habenaria saccata Greene Limnorchis stricta (Lindley) Rydberg Platanthera gracilis Lindley Platanthera hyperborea var. viridiflora (Chamisso) Kitamura Platanthera hyperborea var. viridiflora (Chamisso) Luer Platanthera saccata
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 560. Mentioned on page 554, 558, 559, 561.

Plants 18–100 cm. Leaves few–several, abruptly diverging or sometimes ascending, scattered along stem; blade oblong to ovate or rarely linearlanceolate, 3–32 × (0.6–) 1–4.5 cm. Spikes very lax to 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. 2n = 42.


Phenology: Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat: Wet meadows, tundra, marshes, fens, stream banks, shores, ditches, seeping slopes, roadsides
Elevation: 0–2300 m

Distribution

V26 1142-distribution-map.jpg

Alta., B.C., Yukon, Alaska, Calif., Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash., Wyo.

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.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Platanthera stricta"
self-pollination +
Charles J. Sheviak +
Lindley +
indehiscent +
not +  and articulate +
conduplicate +  and plicate +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (32 cm320 mm <br />0.32 m <br />) +
rarely +, oblong +  and ovate +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (4.5 cm45 mm <br />0.045 m <br />) +
Alta. +, B.C. +, Yukon +, Alaska +, Calif. +, Idaho +, Mont. +, Oreg. +, Wash. +  and Wyo. +
0–2300 m +
3-merous +, sessile +  and pedicellate +
green +  and yellowish green +
ellipsoid;cylindric +
Wet meadows, tundra, marshes, fens, stream banks, shores, ditches, seeping slopes, roadsides +
lateral +  and terminal +
spreading +  and reflexed +
petiolate +, sessile +  and simple +
ascending;diverging +
Few (?) +  and Several (?) +
reduced +
projecting +, reflexed +  and descending +
linear +  and lanceolate +
larger +
entire +  and fringed +
differing in form and color +
thickening +
slender +  and stout +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
1-many-flowered +  and cymose +
pendent +  and erect +
ovate;lance-falcate +
Flowering Jun–Aug. +
Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., +
aerial +  and subterranean +
lancefusiform +
slender +
downward +  and directed +
minute +
free +, distinct +, adnate +  and connate +
foliaceous +
not +  and alike +
scrotiform +, capitate-inflated +  and clavate +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
leafless +  and leafy +
pendent +  and erect +
proliferous +
thickened +  and stout +
concave +  and convex +
Habenaria borealis var. viridiflora +, Habenaria saccata +, Limnorchis stricta +, Platanthera gracilis +, Platanthera hyperborea var. viridiflora +  and Platanthera saccata +
Platanthera stricta +
Platanthera +
species +
orbiculate +
aquatic +, lithophytic +, terrestrial +  and epiphytic +
saprophytic +, photosynthetic +  and mycotrophic +
erect to somewhat +