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Orchidaceae
Platanthera

Platanthera nivea (Nuttall) Luer. Common name: Snowy Orchid, Bog-spike. Phenology: May-Sep. Habitat: Wet pine savanna, acid seepages, Catahoula barren (in e. TX). Distribution: Essentially a Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic, P. nivea ranges from s. NJ and DE (at least formerly) south to FL and west to e. TX and e. AR; disjunct inland in Coffee County, TN (Eastern Highland Rim) and w. SC (in the uppermost Piedmont in the Blue Ridge Escarpment edge).

Glossary (beta)

Subgenus: Blephariglottis. Section: Gymnadeniopsis.

ID notes: The flowers are so white as to seem illuminated from within.

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Other Comments: This species is even more irregular than most Platanthera in its flowering, whole populations sometimes not flowering for a number of years. Its flowers are also not resupinate, unlike most Platanthera in our area. This species was once locally abundant in the outer Coastal Plain of the Carolinas and farther south; Correll (1950) describes "large colonies of this species which form a blanket of white over the landscape." Also see the picture in B.W. Wells’s Natural Gardens of North Carolina.

Synonymy ⓘ: = AqW, Ar, ETx1, FNA26, K4, NS, POWO, Tn, Brown (2002), Luer (1975); = Gymnadeniopsis nivea (Nutt.) Rydb. — S, S13; = Habenaria nivea (Nutt.) Spreng. — C, F, G, GW1, RAB, Tat, Tn, Tx, WH3, Correll (1950); Orchis nivea Nuttall. Basionym: Orchis nivea Nutt. 1818

Links to other floras: = Platanthera nivea - FNA26

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Wetland Indicator Status:

  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW
  • Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACW
  • Great Plains: FACW

Heliophily ⓘ: 9

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image of plant© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Sonnia Hill | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Alan Cressler: Platanthera nivea, road side, U.S. 301, Brantley County, Georgia 5 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷

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Horticultural Information

NCBG trait

Intro: Erect perennial found in wet savannas, bogs and cypress swamps.

Stems: Stem unbranched, smooth.

Leaves: Leaves (1-3) alternate, erect-ascending, sessile with sheathing base, narrowly lance-shaped, 4-12 in. long (reduced to bracts upward), often withered by flowering time.

Inforescence:

Flowers: Flowers 20-50 in a conical-cylindric terminal raceme, blooming from the bottom up; bright white; about 1/2 in. wide; bilaterally symmetric; consisting of 2 spreading sepals, 2 spreading petals, and a narrow lip-petal at the top (unlike most of our other Platanthera species). None of the petals are fringed and the long, thin spur extends backward.

Fruits:

Comments:

Height: 1-3 ft.

plant sale text:

bloom table text:

description: Erect perennial found in wet savannas, bogs and cypress swamps.

stems: Stem unbranched, smooth.

leaves: Leaves (1-3) alternate, erect-ascending, sessile with sheathing base, narrowly lance-shaped, 4-12 in. long (reduced to bracts upward), often withered by flowering time.

inflorescence:

flowers: Flowers 20-50 in a conical-cylindric terminal raceme, blooming from the bottom up; bright white; about 1/2 in. wide; bilaterally symmetric; consisting of 2 spreading sepals, 2 spreading petals, and a narrow lip-petal at the top (unlike most of our other Platanthera species). None of the petals are fringed and the long, thin spur extends backward.

fruits:

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