!Platanthera bifolia (Linne) L.C.M. Richard 1817
Seedpods Photo By Jay Pfahl
LATE
to EARLY 
Common Name The Two-Leafed Platanthera - The Lesser Butterfly Orchid
Flower Size 3/4" [2 cm]
Found in the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Spain, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Czechloslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Western Russia, Central Russia, Eastern Russia, Western Siberia, Algeria, Tunisia, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Mongolia in short grasslands, moorlands, open woodlands and sometimes marshes at elevations up to 2500 meters as a miniature to giant sized, cold growing terrestrial orchid with spindly, stemcarrying 2 to 3, basal, near erect to spreading, broadly ellioptic to oval, shiney green leaves that blooms in the late spring and early summer on an erect, terminal, 1 3/4' [50 cm] long, simply racemose, laxly many flowered inflorescence and carrying large, fragrant [especially at night] flowers.
Synonyms Conopsidium platantherum Wallr. 1840; Conopsidium stenantherum Wallr. 1840 ; Gymnadenia bifolia G.F.W. Meyer 1836; Habenaria bifolia (L.) R. Br. 1813; Habenaria chloroleuca Ridl. 1885; Habenaria fornicata Bab. 1836; Habenaria virescens Druce 1907; Lysias bifolia Salisb. 1812; Orchis alba Lam. 1795; *Orchis bifolia Linne 1763; Orchis bifolia var. major Besser 1809; Orchis ochroleuca Ten. 1826; Orchis paucifolia Gaterau 1789; Orchis platanthera (Wallr.) E.H.L.Krause 1905; Orchis stenanthera (Wallr.) E.H.L.Krause 1905; Platanthera bifolia f. angustifolia Potonié 1912; Platanthera bifolia f. latiflora (Drejer) Asch. & Graebn. 1907; Platanthera bifolia f. trifoliata (Thielens) Pauca & A.Nyár. 1972; Platanthera bifolia subsp. atropatanica B.Baumann & al. 2003; Platanthera bifolia subsp. graciliflora Bisse 1963; Platanthera bifolia subsp. latiflora (Drejer) Lřjtnant 1978; Platanthera bifolia var. subalpina Brügger 1884; Platanthera brachyglossa Rchb. 1831; Platanthera lancifolia (Rohlena) A.W.Hill 1926; Platanthera major (Besser) Linding. 1928; Platanthera montana var. lancifolia Rohlena 1905; Platanthera pervia Peterm. 1846; Platanthera schuriana Fuss 1868; Platanthera solstitialis Boenningh. 1830; Platanthera solstitialis var. latiflora Drejer 1842; Platanthera solstitialis var. trifoliata Thielens 1894; Platanthera subalpina Brügger 1886; Platanthera viricimaculata Kraenzl. 1899; Platanthera wankelii Rchb. 1842; Satyrium bifolium (L.) Wahlenb. 1840; Sieberia bifolia (L.) Spreng. 1817
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East Delforge 2005
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