Platanthera aquilonis
 
Green-Flowered Bog-Orchid

Lower Leaf Top

Center Block, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park
12-July-2011

In the past, this species has been included in Platanthera hyperborea.  However, P. hyperborea is a tetraploid species native to Iceland and Greenland whereas this is a diploid species native to North America.

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Aquilonis: Answers to key questions in Lilies, Irises & Orchids of Saskatchewan by Vernon L. Harms and Anna L. Leighton leading to this species. The answers are in the order you would normally work through the key.
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Leaves 3 or more, cauline, gradually reduced to bracts upwards;  NOT [Leaves 1-2, basal; scape bractless or with 1-6 bracts]

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Flowers yellowish-green to whitish-green; lip not conspicuously widened at base; viscidia oblong to orbicular; NOT [Flowers bright white; lip conspicuously widened at base; viscidia linear to linear-oblong or linear-oblanceolate]

 

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Platanthera: Answers to key questions in Lilies, Irises & Orchids of Saskatchewan by Vernon L. Harms and Anna L. Leighton leading to this genus. The answers are in the order you would normally work through the key. 
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Plants green, with at least some green leaf-blades, these sometimes early withering or late developing; flowering stems green (pale pink to purplish-red in Calypso bulbosa), bearing sheathing bracts in some species; rootstocks not coral-like; capsules spreading to erect (occasionally drooping when old); NOT [Plants non-green saprophytes lacking leaf-blades; flowering stems yellowish to purplish-red or brown (pale greenish-yellow in C. trifid), bearing sheathing bracts; rhizomes rootless, coral-like in their branching; capsules drooping]

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Flowers 3 or more in a spike-like inflorescence, small, often inconspicuous; lip usually less than 1 cm long, but if longer, neither inflated nor broad and flat; NOT [Flowers 1 to 2 per stalk (occasionally more in Cypripedium reginae and C. montanum), large, showy; lip 1 cm long or longer, either inflated or broad and flat]

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Lip spurred (spur short and bag-like in Coeloglossum  viride); NOT [Lip not spurred]

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Lip yellowish-green (often tinged with red  in Coeloglossum) or white, unmarked, narrower, tongue- or strap-shaped, lacking lateral  lobes; flower stems leafy (except in Platanthera obtusata which has a single leaf at base of stem, and Platanthera orbiculata, which has two leaves, both basal) arising from clusters of thick roots; NOT [Lip white with roseate spots, ovate in outline with a pair of protruding lateral lobes near base; terminal lobe flared and usually notched; flower stems naked with a single leaf present at base of stalk and arising from rhizomes with slender roots]

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Lip not toothed at tip, about the same length as spur; stems leafy or leafless; floral bracts shorter; flowers greenish, greenish-white, or white; clusters of roots not palmately arranged; NOT [Lip 2 (3)-toothed at tip, much longer than the inconspicuous pouch-like spur; stems with up to 5  leaves; floral bracts prominent throughout inflorescence, elongated to 2-4 times flower length on raceme lower portions; flowers greenish to yellowish-green; clusters of roots palmately-arranged]

 

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Orchidaceae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this family. 
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plants NOT aquatic

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flowers irregular; NOT [flowers regular]

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perianth present, conspicuous, in two series of 3 segments, often brightly colored; NOT [perianth absent or inconspicuous]

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perianth usually large, consisting of sepals and petals usually alike, variously colored; NOT [perianth small, consisting of 3 green sepals and 3 whitish petals]

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petals NOT deciduous

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stamens 1 or 2; NOT [stamens 3 or 6]