Platanthera dilatata var. leucostachys

White-flowered bog-orchid, White-Flowered Bog-Orchid

Family: Orchidaceae · Type: perennial · Native

White-flowered bog-orchid is a California native perennial found in the California Floristic Province (excluding the Great Valley), Great Basin, and northern Desert Mountains in Panamint Range, inhabiting wet, open places, meadows, seeps, and streambanks at elevations below 3,400 meters. Flowering from May to September, this orchid produces white to cream-colored flowers with delicate, elongated spurs up to 15 millimeters long arranged in dense inflorescences. Growing with tall stems 15 to 150 centimeters high, the plant develops robust and graceful vertical structures. Its long leaves measure 5 to 35 centimeters in length and 9 to 30 millimeters wide, providing a substantial green backdrop to the distinctive flowering spike. The flower's unique structure features a lanceolate lip 5 to 10 millimeters long and a curved spur that is typically one and a half times the length of the lip.

Habitat: Wet, generally open places, meadows, seeps, streambanks

Bloom period: May-Sep

Elevation: < 3400 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc GV), GB, n DMtns (Panamint Range)

California counties: Lake, Mono, Los Angeles, Tulare, San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, Fresno, Humboldt, Modoc, Trinity, El Dorado, Placer, Alpine, Amador, Sierra, Plumas, Butte, Siskiyou, Del Norte, Madera, Lassen, Tehama, Mendocino, San Luis Obispo, Tuolumne, Shasta, Marin, Nevada, Ventura, Glenn, San Diego, San Mateo, Mariposa, Alameda, Colusa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.