Lesser purple fringed orchid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lesser purple fringed orchid |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Platanthera
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| Species: |
psycodes
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Platanthera psycodes, also known as the lesser purple fringed orchid or small purple-fringed orchid, is a beautiful type of orchid flower. You can find it growing in eastern Canada (from Manitoba to Newfoundland) and across the eastern and northeastern United States. This includes areas like the Great Lakes Region, Appalachian Mountains, and New England. It's becoming rare in some states, such as Illinois, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
What's in a Name?
The scientific name psycodes is actually a small mistake. It should be psychodes, which means "butterfly-like." This name probably describes how the orchid's flowers look, like tiny butterflies fluttering in the breeze!
Where Does It Live?
Like many other orchids, this plant loves wet places. You can often find it in damp meadows, bogs, and swamps. It also grows along the edges of streams or in moist parts of evergreen forests. Sometimes, it even pops up in wet spots next to sandy freshwater beaches.
This orchid prefers cooler areas. Because of global warming, its natural home is slowly moving further north. It can grow at different heights, from about 450 meters (1,500 feet) high in Vermont to over 1,980 meters (6,500 feet) high in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Telling Orchids Apart
The lesser purple fringed orchid is often confused with a close relative called Platanthera grandiflora. Here's how you can tell them apart:
- P. grandiflora usually has bigger flowers. Its bottom petal, called the labellum, is about 10 to 25 millimeters long.
- P. psycodes has smaller flowers. Its labellum is only about 5 to 13 millimeters long.
- Another key difference is the shape of the opening where the flower's nectar is. In P. grandiflora, this opening is round. In P. psycodes, it's more oblong or rectangular.
The most important difference is how they help with pollination. The way the flower is shaped means that P. psycodes places its pollen on the "nose" of the insect that visits it. But P. grandiflora places its pollen on the insect's eyes!
Even where these two orchids grow in the same areas, they bloom at different times. P. grandiflora typically flowers from late June to early July. P. psycodes blooms a bit later, from late July to early August.
Images for kids
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A full flowering plant in a wet area in the White Mountains, New Hampshire.
See also
In Spanish: Platanthera psycodes para niños
