  | 
     Liparis: 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. 
     
        | 
         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]  |  
        | 
         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]  |  
        | 
         Lip not
        spurred;
        NOT [Lip
        spurred (spur short and bag-like in Coeloglossum  viride)]  |  
        | 
         Leaves 2,
        paired either at base of stem or attached midway up stem; NOT [Leaves
        solitary or several, but not paired]  |  
        | Leaf
        pair arising at stem base, blades longer (up to 18 cm long), narrower,
        tapering at base, keeled and conspicuously sheathing stem below; lip not
        notched or cleft at tip; stems arising from pseudobulbs; NOT [Leaf pair
        attached midway up stem, leaves +/- opposite to each other; blades at
        most 6 cm long, ovate-elliptic, cordate or deltate, not keeled or
        sheathing; lip notched or 2-cleft at tip; stems arising from slender
        roots; pseudobulbs lacking]  |  
     
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