Scotty Smith's Orchids of Colorado. - Southwest Colorado Wildflowers

Platanthera tescamnis Sheviak & JenningsPlatanthera tescamnis (pla-tan‟-ther-ah)+(tes-cam-nis), derived from the words for desert and water,referring to its location of habitat. Platanthera derived from the Greek words meaning ”wide anther”,in reference to the broad anther on the flower in this orchid.Common name: Intermountain rein orchidFlowering: late June thru August.Description: The floral stem blooms from the bottom first and then blossoms upwards. Theblooming time of this orchid is two months long or better. The higher the elevation the later itblooms and the later it stays blossoming. The flower itself is light green to yellow green in color.Flowers can be densely to light packed along the stem of the flower. The sepals, light green, folddownwards and twist backwards paralleling the spur. The petals and dorsal sepal come together toform a type of hood over the column. This hooded portion along with the lower sepal and lipextend horizontally out from the flowering stem, forming almost a 90 degree angle to the stem. Thisorchid also has a nectary or spur which contains the nectar that so many insects and moths arestriving for. The spur is cylindrical and pale green and also curves outward from the base of the spurand flower. The spur is longer than the lip; to as much as 1½ times as long as the lip. The lip is ayellow to yellow green in color. It appears to hang straight down from the rest of the flower. Theflower has a strong scent. The 6-8 leaves are dark green and clustered around the base of the plantforming somewhat of a rosette.Habitat: This orchid grows from partial shade to full sunshine. Mostly found growing in wet streambanks and riparian areas. It is an orchid that grows in road side cuts. The height of this orchid duringblooming time varies between 12 to 24 inches and varies with habitat and altitude conditions,amounts of water and elevations. It is found at elevations between 7,000 and 10,000 feet inColorado.In Colorado Platanthera tescamnis is found growing in some desert locations with water, but also in thefoothills of the San Louis valley and along I-70 close to Vail, Colorado. The plants in Colorado wereknown as Platanthera sparsiflora for the longest time, but large differences were found betweenColorado‟s plants and the typical P. sparsiflora, hence the renaming of our species of Platantheratescamnis.160