Platanthera aquilonis
Green-Flowered Bog-Orchid
Flower Front Close-Up (early)
Center Block, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park
12-July-2011
The flower has a single anther but the anther is split into two clearly separated "half-anthers". Each half anther contains a coherent mass of pollen called a pollinium attached to a sticky plate called a viscidium via a stalk called a caudicle. Note each pollinium is still enclosed in an anther sac in this photo. As the flower matures the pollinia will detach themselves from the anther sacs and fall loosely onto the stigma. This does not happen in P. hyperborea (see below).
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.
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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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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Orchidaceae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this family.
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