Orchid of the Month
last month: Dendrobium - Phalaenopsis
Platanthera ciliaris
Habenaria ciliaris (common -
yellow fringed orchid)
Platanthera ciliaris is a butterfly-pollinated, terrestrial orchid native to sphagnum and sedge bogs, swamps, marshes, wet sandy barrens, thickets on borders of streams and ponds, moist woods, wet meadows, prairies, and in deep humus of upland forests in the Eastern United States and Canada.
The plant has numerous lance-shaped leaves and large spike of loosely clustered flowers with fringed lip. Spur is long, slender, 1" or more.. The flowers grow in racemes, opening from bottom to top. The flowers can be bright yellow through apricot to deep orange.
Blooming season: Summer through fall
often in small colonies
Light: Sun to partial shade
Height: 1 to 3 feet
Habitat:
In the southeastern United States, P. ciliaris occurs in the Appalachian Mountains and Coastal Plain
Photos Wikimedia Commons
