General: Perennial herb from spindle-shaped stem-bases, with a few fibrous roots; stems 15-100 cm tall, leafy.
Leaves: 3 or more along stem, oblong to linear-lanceolate, 5-30 cm long, 0.6-7 cm wide, ascending, gradually reduced to bracts above.
Flowers: Inflorescence a few- to densely-flowered spike, the flowers whitish-green, with bracts; lateral sepals spreading to slightly bent back, lanceolate, the upper sepal egg-shaped to nearly elliptic, slightly hooded at tip; petals egg-shaped to lance- or scythe-shaped; lip lanceolate to linear, 5-12 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, descending, entire, the base slightly to noticeably round-dilated; spur 4-12 mm long slenderly cylindrical to somewhat club-shaped, the tips gently tapered; anther sacs high, rising above stigmas, the tips separated, the bases diverging slightly; viscidia oblong.
Wet grassy slopes, stream and lake margins, bogs, swamps and open forests in the montane to alpine zones; infrequent in BC, east of the Coast-Cascade mountains; N to AK, E to NF and S to ME, MA, NY, MI, WI, MN, IA and CO.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Habenaria huronensis (Nutt.) Spreng. Habenaria hyperborea var. huronensis (Nutt.) Farw. Platanthera hyperborea var. huronensis (Nutt.) Luer Platanthera hyperborea var. major Lange
