White bog orchid is a lovely orchid of moist places, with single, stout, hollow stems to 20-100 cm high. The fleshy sheathing leaves cover the lower part of the stem. The lower leaves range from 5-20 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, and may be even larger upwards on the glabrous stem. The lower leaves range from lanceolate to oblong-elliptic.
The flowers are white, showy, and numerous, forming a spike from 5-30 cm long at the apex of the stem. The raceme is commonly fairly dense with only the lower flowers commonly not overlapping. The flowers are about 15-20 mm long with a lanceolate lip from 6-8 mm long, which is dilated at the base. The spur is about 1.5 times as long as the lip. fairly slender and strongly curved. The upper sepal and 2 petals form a hood. The lower 2 sepals spread to each side of the flower.
Platanthera dilatata var. dilatata: This species is nearly identical to P. leucostachys but has a shorter spur (roughly the same length as the lip) that is less curved and thicker.
White bog orchid is a plant of wet meadows, moist forest edges, and bogs or seeps.
Habenaria leucostachys is found over much of North America. It may be found from Alaska south to California and sporadically east of the Cascades to the western slopes of the Rocky Mts. of Montana, Idaho, and Utah.
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