Small Purple Fringed Orchid, Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid, Lesser Purple Fringed Bog-orchid - Platanthera psycodes
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Platanthera psycodes - Small Purple Fringed Orchid, Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid, Lesser Purple Fringed Bog-orchid. There are over 30 species of Platanthera (Fringed Orchid, although some are not fringed) in North America, with at least one species in every state in the United States and every province in Canada. Platanthera psycodes is an eastern species, being found from Minnesota eastward and south to Tennessee and Georgia. It is a plant of moist forests, seepages, and bogs.
Found in:
CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV
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Distribution of Platanthera psycodes in the United States and Canada:
Map courtesy of The Biota of North America Program.
Map color key
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| | Site: Clingman's Dome, GSMNP, Swain County, NC Date: 2014-June-28 | Photographer: Gerald C. Williamson
Nikon D7000
Tamron SP 90MM f/2.8 AF Macro | | The inflorescence of Small Purple Fringed Orchid is a spike of rose-purple spurred flowers (all Platanthera are spurred). Among the characteristics that are different from the similar Platanthera grandiflora is the opening in the throat of the corolla - it is dumbbell-shaped in Platanthera psycodes and round or square in Platanthera grandiflora. The (apparently misspelled; should be psychodes) species epithet psycodes is derived from a Greek word meaning butterfly-like, referring to the shape of the flowers. | | 
| | Site: Clingman's Dome, GSMNP, Swain County, NC Date: 2014-June-28 | Photographer: Gerald C Williamson
Nikon D7000 | | Platanthera psycodes is very similar to Platanthera grandiflora - Large Purple Fringed Orchid. The latter has slightly larger flowers with the fringe on the lobed lower petal being at least one third of the length of the corolla lobes; P. psycodes fringes are less than one third the length of the lobe. | | Click on the photo for a larger image
| | Site: Clingman's Dome, GSMNP, Swain County, NC Date: 2014-June-28 | Photographer: Gerald C Williamson
Nikon D7000 | | Platanthera psycodes is a leafy plant growing to 4 feet tall. There are up to 5 leaves. They are clasping, with the lower ones forming a sheath around the stem. The leaves become significantly reduced up the stem, becoming bracts in the upper plant. This plant was photographed at the base of a wet, seeping rock bluff along the Clingman’s Dome parking lot. | | Click on the photo for a larger image
| | Site: Clingman's Dome, GSMNP, Swain County, NC Date: 2014-June-28 | Photographer: Gerald C Williamson
Nikon D7000 | | The fragrant flowers of Platanthera psycodes have three petal-like sepals, with the lateral sepals shown in this photo spreading like wings. There are also three petals, the two lateral petals arise upward from the corolla, and they are minutely toothed. The central sepal is swept up behind the lateral petals in this photo, and that appears to be the normal position. The lower petal is 3-lobed and fringed. | | Click on the photo for a larger image
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References used for identification and information:
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