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Lesser Butterfly Orchid
Plitvice Lakes (Plitvicka-Jezera), Croatia (June, 2016).
Lesser butterfly-orchids have two shining green basal leaves.The upper sepal and petals form a loose triangular hood above the pollinia, which lie parallel and close together, obscuring the opening into the spur, which is long and almost straight. There are usually around 25 white flowers tinged with yellow-green in a slim flower spike. The flowers are night-scented.
''Platanthera bifolia'', commonly known as the lesser butterfly-orchid, is a species of orchid in the genus ''Platanthera'', having certain relations with the genus ''Orchis'', where it was previously included and also with the genus ''Habenaria''. It is a Palaearctic species occurring from Ireland in the West, across Europe and Asia to Korea and Japan. It is also found in North Africa. The name ''Platanthera'' is derived from Greek, meaning "broad anthers", while the species name, ''bifolia'',.. more
