Platanthera elegans is a species of orchid known by several common names, including elegant piperia, coast piperia, hillside rein orchid, and hillside bogorchid. This is a showy flowering plant native to western North America.[1][2] It grows from a caudex tuber and sends up a thick stem just under a meter in maximum height. The stem is topped with a cylindrical spike inflorescence of densely packed flowers with curving white to greenish-yellow petals.[3][4][5] Coastal individuals are noticeably thicker and have more flowers than those that grow further inland; it is uncertain if these are variants, subspecies, or even separate species. They are both currently treated as P. elegans. Other species of Plantanthera, notably the endangered species P. yadonii are quite similar in appearance to some populations of this species.
| Platanthera elegans | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Orchidoideae |
| Genus: | Platanthera |
| Species: | P. elegans
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| Binomial name | |
| Platanthera elegans | |
| Synonyms | |
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References
edit- ^ Sullivan, Steven. K. (2015). "Piperia elegans". Wildflower Search. Retrieved 2015-06-16.
- ^ "Piperia elegans". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture; Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-16.
- ^ Klinkenberg, Brian, ed. (2014). "Piperia elegans". E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Retrieved 2015-06-16.
- ^ Giblin, David, ed. (2015). "Piperia elegans". WTU Herbarium Image Collection. Burke Museum, University of Washington. Retrieved 2015-06-16.
- ^ "Piperia elegans". Jepson eFlora: Taxon page. Jepson Herbarium; University of California, Berkeley. 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-16.
External links
edit
Media related to Platanthera elegans at Wikimedia Commons- Photo gallery
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