Liparis loeselii (L.) L.C. Rich.
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TAXONOMY
 
Family: Orchidaceae
Genus: Liparis
 
Species Synonyms: none
Common Names: yellow widelip orchid
yellow twayblade
bog twayblade
Loesel’s twayblade
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
Canada: southwestern Mackenzie District, southern British Columbia, Saskatchewan – Manitoba – Ontario – Quebec – New Brunswick – Nova Scotia
Saskatchewan: central – southeastern Saskatchewan; La Ronge – Strawberry Lakes
Ecoregion: Moist Mixed Grassland, Aspen Parkland, Boreal Transition, Mid-Boreal Upland, Mid-Boreal Lowland
 
HABITAT
 
Saskatchewan: wet, seepy depressions in meadows, fens, and sloughs
Canada:: bogs, peaty meadows, damp thickets, and alluvial shores
 
RARITY STATUS
 
Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):
Vulnerable
Nature Conservancy Status:
G5 S1S2
Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:
None
COSEWIC Status:
None
 
Yellow widelip orchid is vulnerable because it is rare or uncommon in Saskatchewan. It is found in several localities in the province but is almost always locally sparse. No immediate threats are known but are possible in the future.
 
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
 
Height: 5 – 25 cm
Roots: rhizome short; roots fibrous
Stems: basal enlargement ovoid, sheathed by bracts; stem pale or yellowish-green, angled; a few sheathing bracts below leaves
Leaves: 2, to 26 cm long, 1 – 4 cm wide, oblong to lance-shaped, green, glossy, fleshy
Inflorescence: unbranched, lax, 2 – 10 cm long, 1 – 12-flowered; bracts minute; flower stalks 3 – 5 mm long, slender
Flowers: sepals greenish, yellowish or whitish, dorsal sepal erect, lateral sepals 5 mm long and 2 mm wide; petals 5 mm long, tubular, thread-like, base wedge-shaped and slightly lobed, greenish or yellowish or whitish; column short, ca. 2 mm long, stout, winged at tip; pollen masses yellow
Fruits: capsule egg-shaped or ellipsoid, erect, veins often slightly winged
 
ORCHIDACEAE KEY FOR GENERA FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN
 
1 Plants saprophytic, without chlorophyll, yellowish to brownish; leaves reduced
Corallorhiza
1 Plants not saprophytic, with chlorophyll, green; leaves well developed
2
   
2 Lip sac-like, not spurred
3
2 Lip not sac-like, may be spurred
5
   
3 Leaves several
Cypripedium
3 Leaves solitary to 2
4
 
4 Leaf oval to round
Calypso
4 Leaf linear
Arethusa
 
5 Basal spur on lip
6
95 Basal spur absent
9
 
6 Leaves on the stem
7
6 Leaves basal
8
 
7 Pollinia parallel or nearly so; lip unlobed
Platanthera
7 Pollinia divergent; lip notched to three lobed
Coeloglossum
 
8 Lip white, spotted with purple, sepals and petals rose
Amerorchis
8 Flowers greenish or white
Habenaria
 
9 Leaves 2
10
9 Leaves 1 – several
11
 
10 Leaves in basal pair
Liparis
10 Leaves in the middle of the stem
Listera
 
11 Flowers greenish; stems swollen at base
Malaxis
11 Flowers white, cream, yellow or brown, occasionally tinged with green; swelling at base absent
12
 
12 Leaves reticulate marked, midrib white; flower spike not twisted; woodlands
Goodyera
12 Leaves not reticulate marked, midrib green; flower spike twisted; prairies
Spiranthes