Green fringed-orchid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Green fringed-orchid |
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| Platanthera lacera at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | |
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Platanthera
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| Species: |
lacera
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The Green Fringed-Orchid (scientific name: Platanthera lacera) is a beautiful type of orchid. You can find it growing naturally across the eastern parts of the United States and Canada. This orchid is also known as the Ragged Fringed Orchid. It likes to live in many different places, such as sandy prairies, wet meadows, bogs, and even forests.
What Does the Green Fringed-Orchid Look Like?
The Green Fringed-Orchid is a plant that lives for many years. It can grow to be about 8 to 30 inches (20 to 77 centimeters) tall. Each plant usually has 2 to 7 long, narrow leaves. Its flowers grow in a tall cluster at the very top of the stem. This cluster can be 1.5 to 10 inches (4 to 25 centimeters) long. You might see anywhere from 15 to 60 flowers on one plant! These flowers are usually a pretty whitish-green color.
How Does the Green Fringed-Orchid Get Pollinated?
The flowers of the Green Fringed-Orchid have a sweet smell, especially at night. This smell helps to attract special visitors! These visitors are moths that are active during twilight hours, which means around dawn or dusk. When these moths visit the flowers to drink nectar, they help to move pollen from one flower to another. This process is called pollination, and it helps the orchid make seeds for new plants.
