Platanthera flava, the southern rein orchid or palegreen orchid, is a species of terrestrial orchid native to eastern North America, from Texas east to Florida, north to Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Platanthera flava has from 10 to 40 flowers in an inflorescence. In the north of its range, in Canada, this species is particularly associated with shorelines of lakes and rivers, in the seasonally flooded zone.Reddoch, J. and Reddoch, A. (1997). The Orchids in the Ottawa district. Canadian Field-Naturalist, 111, 1–185. In Nova Scotia, it occurs in wet meadows on seasonally flooded shorelines with rare shoreline species such as Sabatia kennedyana.Keddy, P.A. 1985. Lakeshore plants in the Tusket River Valley, Nova Scotia: the distribution and status of some rare species including Coreopsis rosea and Sabatia kennedyana. Rhodora 87:309-320. In the south, such as in Texas, it is found in wet savannas and flatwoods.Liggio, J. and Liggio, A.O. 1999. Wild Orchids of Texas. University of Texas Press, Austin. p.139-141. The shoreline habitats of the north are maintained by ice scour, while in the south, the flatwoods are maintained by recurring fire. Hence, it appears that this species depends upon recurring natural disturbance to maintain open sunny conditions.
Varieties Two varieties are recognized:
Platanthera flava var. flava – southern part of species range Platanthera flava var. herbiola (R. Brown) Luer – northern part of species range
References
External links
Maine Natural Areas Program fact sheet