Green Adder's-Mouth (Bruce Peninsula Orchids)

Green Adder's-Mouth

Malaxis unifolia

Summary ³

Malaxis unifolia, or the green adder's-mouth orchid, is a species of orchid occurring from eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland to Manitoba), the central and eastern United States (Maine to Florida, west as far as Minnesota, eastern Kansas, and eastern Texas), Mexico, Central America and the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic).

Description ⁴

Plants 3–50 cm. Pseudobulbs 5–20 mm diam. Leaves 1(–2, rarely), near middle of stem; blade bright green, glossy, narrowly to broadly ovate, keeled abaxially, 1.6–10 × 0.5–5 cm, apex acute. Inflorescences racemes, appearing umbellate before elongation of rachis, 1–13 cm; floral bracts triangular, 0.16–1.4 mm; pedicels (3.8–)5–10(–13) mm. Flowers 10–160, resupinate, green; dorsal sepal oblong-elliptic, 1.1–1.9 (–2.2) × 0.5–1 mm, apex acuminate; lateral sepals oblong-elliptic, 1.1–1.9(–2.2) × 0.5–1 mm, apex acuminate; petals strongly recurved, linear to filiform, slightly falcate, 0.8–1.7(–3) × 0.1–0.2(–0.3) mm; lip rhombic-deltate to cordate-ovate or oblong-elliptic, 1.1–2.3 × 1–2.2 mm, base cordate or auriculate, auricles less than 0.6 times as long as distance from base of lip to apex of middle lobe, apex 3-dentate; column 0.4–0.6 × 0.4–0.6 mm; pollinia yellow. Capsules spreading to slightly drooping, subglobose to ellipsoid, 8 × 4 mm.

Sources and Credits

(c) BlueRidgeKitties, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueridgekitties/7452442498/
no rights reserved, uploaded by Alan Weakley
Adapted by bpff from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaxis_unifolia
(c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/5018793

More Info

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