Platanthera blephariglottis - White Fringed Orchid Home - Plant Profiles & Photos

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Older scientific names for Platanthera blephariglottis include:  Blephariglottis blephariglottis, Habenaria blephariglottis var. blephariglottis.
Other common names include: White Fringed Bog Orchid.

Platanthera blephariglottis, White Fringed orchid, is a native herbaceous perennial plant that grows in the bogs, marshes, and moist open woodlands. It blooms in August.

There are two varieties/subspecies. Please see at the bottom under "More Info"

Flowers

The showy white flowers grow in a dense cluster that forms a spike (flowers are sessile) on an unbranched upright stalk. Each flower has three sepals that are rounded and have smooth margins. It has 3 petals. The 2 lateral petals are slightly fringed. The distinctive third petal, lip/labellum, is highly fringed. A spur is connected to the back of the lip that contains nectar.

The first photo in this section shows a flower cluster where the the relative lengths of the spurs and the bracts also can be seen. The spur is as long or longer than the ovary (distance from the flower head to the stem) . The spur is about an inch (~25mm) long. The green bracts are short and narrow.

The second and third photos are close ups of the flower front view with the lip.

The forth and fifth photos are side views

Platanthera blephariglottis - White Fringed Orchid - Flower cluster, infloresence

Platanthera blephariglottis - White Fringed Orchid -  flower closeup: lip labellum, 3 sepals, 3 petals Platanthera blephariglottis - White Fringed Orchid -  flower closeup: lip labellum, 3 sepals, 3 petals


Platanthera blephariglottis - White Fringed Orchid -  flower closeup: spur Platanthera blephariglottis - White Fringed Orchid -  flower closeup: spur


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Plant and leaves

Platanthera blephariglottis - White Fringed Orchid: lower leaves The plant is a single stalk with the showy flowers on top. The plant can be as tall as 3 feet. It has about 2 larger leaves along the bottow of the stalk and then greatly reduced leaves in size further up and become bracts in the flower cluster. Photo on the left show lower leaves



All photos by H & M Ling, 8/5/2017, Wharton State Forest, NJ.

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Additional information

Additional information / references:

There are 2 varieties/subspecies of Platanthera blephariglottis:
Northern white fringed orchid: P. blephariglottis var. blephariglottis
Southern white fringed orchid: P. blephariglottis var. conspicua, or P. conspicua
New Jersey has both Northern and Southern varieties. Distinguishing features:
var. blephariglottis: Spur less than 26 mm, to 1.25 times length of ovary.
var. conspicua: Spur at least 30 mm, commonly about 2 times length of ovary.

The USDA website shows P. blephariglottis is present in many states but it is threatened/endangered in many.: https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=PLBL . It is not considered threathened in New Jersey.

The BONAP website (Biota of North America Program) says it is not rare in NJ. http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Platanthera%20blephariglottis.png .

Although P. blephariglottis is not rare it is not easily found.

Other Online References 

Flora of North America: http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101826

Go Botany: https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/species/platanthera/blephariglottis/

Go Orchids: http://goorchids.northamericanorchidcenter.org/species/platanthera/blephariglottis/

 

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