Liparis loeselii (Yellow Twayblade) - photos and description
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General: Small orchid with a single flowering stem growing between two opposite, basal leaves. Plant is glabrous.
Flowers:
Flowers grow in a short
raceme, yellow in colour, looking at my photos I counted 3 to 12 flowers
in the raceme. The flowers with a prominent egg-shaped lip, the lateral
petals and sepals the same yellow colour as the lip. The lateral petals
are threadlike, the dorsal sepal is narrow and erect, the two lateral
sepals spread on either side of the lip. I’ve measured the lip to 5 mm
long the flower to 10 mm wide.
Leaves: Plants have two opposite, basal leaves. Leaves are elliptical to ovate, we measured a leaf at 7 cm long and 2 cm wide (not flattened out).
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 20 cm. We measured plants to 19 cm tall.
Habitat: Open fens and bogs in the parklands and boreal forest.
Abundance: Rare, ranked as an S3 (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.
Origin: Native.
When and where photographed: Above photos were taken July 1st through 4th in a calcareous, lakeshore fen about 65 km south east of our home in Regina, SK, and in a forest fen, Duck Mountain Provincial Park, 300 km north east of our home in Regina, SK.