Compilation
Limnorchis purpurascens

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Name

Identification
Limnorchis purpurascens Rydb. [family ORCHIDACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Limnorchis purpurascens
  • Habenaria saccata
  • Platanthera purpurascens
  • Habenaria hyperborea

Flora

Entry for Platanthera purpurascens (Rydberg) Sheviak & W. F. Jennings [family ORCHIDACEAE]
Herbarium
Flora of North America (FNA)
Collection
Flora of North America
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of North America, Vol 26,
Names
Platanthera purpurascens (Rydberg) Sheviak & W. F. Jennings [family ORCHIDACEAE], N. Amer. Native Orchid J., 3: 445. 1997
Limnorchis purpurascens Rydberg [family ORCHIDACEAE], Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 28: 269. 1901
Platanthera hyperborea (Linnaeus) Lindley var. purpurascens (Rydberg) Luer [family ORCHIDACEAE]
Treatment Author(s)
Charles J. Sheviak
Information
Plants 24–80 cm. Leaves few–several, abruptly diverging or sometimes ascending, scattered along stem; blade oblong to ovate or lanceolate, 5.5–16(–28) × 1–4.5 cm. Spikes very lax to dense, flowers sometimes irregularly grouped in fascicles. Flowers resupinate, not showy, green to yellowish green, often suffused with blue or lip sometimes with red; lateral sepals spreading to reflexed; petals ovate- to lance-falcate, margins entire; lip descending to somewhat reflexed or projecting, lanceolate to ovate, sometimes with prominent suborbiculate basal dilation, without basal thickening, 4–8 × 1.5–3 mm; spur strongly clavate to scrotiform, 2–3 mm, apex obtuse; rostellum lobes strongly diverging, very small, rounded, obscure; pollinaria straight; pollinia remaining enclosed in anther sacs; viscidia orbiculate to oblong; ovary rather slender to stout, mostly 5–9 mm. 2n = 42 [63].
Phenology
jul-aug (summer)
Altitude range
2500–3300 m;
Distribution
USA Ariz.USA Calif.USA Colo.USA N.Mex.USA Wyo.
Discussion
Flowers of Platanthera purpurascens are strongly semen scented, and their musty scent is markedly different than the sweet and spicy scents of other fragrant species.
In some areas this species hybridizes with Platanthera dilatata var. albiflora, producing sweetly fragant plants with lanceolate green lips. At the southern edge of its range, however, it often occurs with similar plants in the absence of another putative parent. The identity of these plants is uncertain. Their rather generalized morphology might mask polyphyletic origins.

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