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Greater butterfly orchid

Platanthera chlorantha

Greater butterfly orchid
Photo: Jörg Hempel, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Perennial, Orchid
Native range
Europe to N. Iran
Climate
temperate

About

Platanthera chlorantha, commonly known as greater butterfly-orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family. It can be found throughout Europe and Morocco. The name Platanthera is derived from Greek, meaning "broad anthers", while the species name, chlorantha, means "green-flowered".

Greater butterfly-orchid is similar to lesser butterfly-orchid, Platanthera bifolia, which is about the same size, but with smaller flowers. Greater butterfly-orchid is a herbaceous perennial of medium height. Its leaves are broad, shiny and elliptical, with a large pair at the base, and much smaller, more lanceolate leaves up the stem. The flowers are greenish-white, scented of vanilla, with spreading sepals and petals. The lip of the flower is long, narrow and undivided. The flower has a very long spur. The flowers form a rather loose spike.

Other Platanthera plants

Platanthera unalascensis · Rein orchid · Green Platanthera · Northern green orchid · Hochstetter's Butterfly Orchid · Platanthera bakeriana · Platanthera bhutanica · Lesser butterfly-orchid · White fringed orchid · Shortflowered bog orchid · Platanthera calceoliformis · Platanthera carnosilabris

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Platanthera chlorantha by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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