Platanthera lacera
(Michaux) G. Don in Sweet var. lacera
[Habenaria lacera ] (Michx.) Lodd.
Ragged Fringed Orchid, Prairie White Fringed Orchid

Location Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba.
Specific Habitat

Hardier than many of the Rein Orchids, growing in a variety of sterile acid soil conditions. Amount of moisture seems unimportant so long as the area is not completely dry. Frequent and local in Southern Ontario and north to Cochrane, Thunder Bay and Rainy River Districts. Grows among grasses and sedges in bogs, roadside ditches and sometimes in deep shade of low Deciduous woods. Generally rare in Eastern Ontario, but becomes locally common when ideal habitat is available: often where human removal of vegetation from sandy areas has occurred

Flowering Season Late June to early August.
Description

Height to 50 cm. Stem slender to stout.
Leaves 2 - 5, sheathing the stem, becoming bracts above.
Raceme lax to dense, 20 - 40 flowers.
Flowers pale yellow-green to greenish-white. Lip has strange lip-lacerations: outer lobes deeply divided into almost threadilike segments, middle lobe less so.

Comments

Plants are easily over-looked, being inconspicuous among the grasses and sedges with which they are associated.

References

Orchids of Ontario
The Canadian Field-Naturalist
The Orchids of Bruce & Grey

HabitatPlantFlower

© Royal Botanical Gardens, Dr. Donald Gunn Image Collection.