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Platanthera integra - (image 1 of 5)

Taxonomy

Family: Orchidaceae

Habitat

Open acid bogs and pine savannas.

Associates

Distribution

Coastal plain in southern NJ and possibly MD, then from NC to FL and LA (reports from TX are questionable), north in the interior to TN.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial 30-60 cm; foliage leaf 1(2) narrowly lance-linear, folded, recurved, to 25 cm, the second much smaller; upper leaves several, erect, much reduced and bract-like; inflorescence ovoid or cylindric, dense, 3-9 cm long and 2.5 cm wide; bracts lance-linear, all shorter than the ovary; flowers orange-yellow, divergent; lip ovate, 5 mm, crenulate or erose, not fringed; spur 4-8 mm, tapering to the tip; pollen sacs adjacent and parallel.

Notes

Flowers mid to late August in NJ

Wetland indicator: OBL

One of the rarest orchids not currently federally listed and considered globally vulnerable. Related to P. clavellata and P. nivea and like those species the column of the flower bears two pairs of lateral processes. The seeds germinate without stratification in vitro.

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

Sheviak, C.J. 2002. Platanthera, In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, Eds. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 26. Oxford University Press, New York.

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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