Canadian Native Orchids - Platanthera stricta

Platanthera stricta
Lindley
[Platanthera dilatata ] (Pursch) Lindley [var. gracilis ] Ledebour
Slender Bog Orchid

Location Alberta, British Columbia.

Specific Habitat
Damp meadows or along streams where moisture is available, in the mountains of the west.

Flowering Season May to September.

Description
Height to 1 m., slender, usually with relatively short leaves.
Leaves: up to 10, oblong to obtuse, the larger clasping the stem below, becoming bracts above.
Flowers similar to P. hyperborea are remotely spaced on a long wand-like spike, becoming crowded at the apex where buds are forming.
Flowers: yellow-green to deep green, sometimes with a faint purple edging. Dorsal sepal forms a hood with the petals; lip elliptic, obtuse. The most distinctive feature is the short, saccate spur, usually less than half the length of the lip, and terminated by a bulbous, sometimes nearly bilobed scrotiform sac.

Comments
Very distinct when seen in the field, but extremely similar to other slender forms of varieties in the dilatata Ð hyperborea complex. While isolated in the mountains of the west long enough to evolve a few readily identifiable characteristics, when the plant is dried and mounted on herbarium sheets, differentiation of taxa becomes difficult, partly because intermediate forms are common.

References
The Native Orchids of the United States and Canada excluding Florida

Habitat Plant Flower

Location	Alberta, British Columbia.
Specific Habitat	Damp meadows or along streams where moisture is available, in the mountains of the west.
Flowering Season	May to September.
Description	Height to 1 m., slender, usually with relatively short leaves. Leaves: up to 10, oblong to obtuse, the larger clasping the stem below, becoming bracts above. Flowers similar to P. hyperborea are remotely spaced on a long wand-like spike, becoming crowded at the apex where buds are forming. Flowers: yellow-green to deep green, sometimes with a faint purple edging. Dorsal sepal forms a hood with the petals; lip elliptic, obtuse. The most distinctive feature is the short, saccate spur, usually less than half the length of the lip, and terminated by a bulbous, sometimes nearly bilobed scrotiform sac.
Comments	Very distinct when seen in the field, but extremely similar to other slender forms of varieties in the dilatata Ð hyperborea complex. While isolated in the mountains of the west long enough to evolve a few readily identifiable characteristics, when the plant is dried and mounted on herbarium sheets, differentiation of taxa becomes difficult, partly because intermediate forms are common.
References	The Native Orchids of the United States and Canada excluding Florida