Northern Green Orchis

(Platanthera hyperborea)

Northern Green Orchis (Platanthera hyperborea [L.] Lindl.)

Identification: Flowers green to yellow-green, with a elongate, rear spur. Lower petal elongate, pointed, unfringed. Spur about one-half as long as lower petal. Upper petal concave, helmetlike. Flowers is a tight, terminal raceme. Leaves elongate, slightly ovate, become smaller the further up the stem. Plant 8 to 30 inches in height.

Distribution: Across Canada south to Minnesota, the Great Lakes States, and New England. Also found throughout the moutains of western North America. Also occurs in northern Europe and Asia.

Habitat: Northern Green Orchis is found in bogs, woods, and thickets.

Flowering period: May to July.

Similar Species: Long-bracted Orchis has elongate, grasslike bracts between the flowers of the raceme. The spur is reduced to a small, bulbous knob. The lower petal of Pale Green Orchis is broad with a blunt apex and a tooth on either side of the base of the lower petal. Hooker's Orchis has a single pair of large, broad leaves at the base of the plant and a naked stem.