6. Platanthera peramoena (A. Gray) A. Gray (purple fringeless orchid)

Pl. 115 i, j; Map 477

Habenaria peramoena A. Gray

Flowering stems 30–90 cm long, the flowers 20–50 in a dense to loose raceme. Main stem leaves 2–5. Sepals 6–9 mm long, pinkish purple to purple. Lateral petals 5–8 mm long, broadly spathulate, the tips broadly rounded, finely toothed to nearly entire, pinkish purple to purple. Lip 10–22 mm long, 3‑lobed, the lobes broadly fan‑shaped, unevenly toothed or fringed less than a third the length of the lobe, the middle lobe sometimes with a short notch at the tip, pinkish purple to purple. Spur 20–30 mm long. Column 3–4 mm long, greenish white, the viscidia 3.0–3.5 mm apart, positioned so as to face more or less forward (parallel to each other). June–September.

Scattered in the southeastern quarter of the state, in the Ozark, Ozark Border, and Mississippi Lowlands Divisions (eastern U.S. west to Arkansas). Mesic bottomland forests along streams and lakes and in valleys, in rocky or more commonly mucky soils.

The brightly colored flowers of this species are pollinated by butterflies. Several new populations have been located since the original publication of Steyermark’s (1963) flora, and the species may be becoming more common in the state. Depauperate specimens are sometimes misdetermined as P. psycodes, but the two species usually are easily separated by the key characters.