Eurasian white adder’s-mouth

Malaxis diphyllos Chamisso; M. monophyllos (Linnaeus) Swartz var. diphyllos (Chamisso) Luer

Plants 3–25 cm. Pseudobulbs 4–10 mm diam. Leaves 1–2(–3), subopposite, yellow-green, oblong-elliptic, base sheathing stem, apex acute; blade 2–10 × 0.5–4.1 cm. Inflorescences: floral bracts lanceolate, 1–4 mm; pedicels 2.5–4.5 mm. Flowers not resupinate, green, yellowish green, or yellow; dorsal sepal slightly reflexed, ovate-lanceolate, 2.5–2.8 × 0.9–1.4 mm, margins revolute, apex acuminate; lateral sepals slightly reflexed, lanceolate, 1.5–2.5 × 0.9–1.4 mm, apex acuminate; petals strongly reflexed, filiform to narrowly linear, 1.8–2.2 × 0.3–0.4 mm, apex rounded; lip ovate, concave, 3-lobed, middle lobe ovate, 1.5–2.5 × 1–2 mm, apex acuminate, lateral lobes basal, curved up on either side of middle lobe, narrow, short; column greenish yellow to yellow, 0.5–0.8 × 0.5–0.8 mm. 2n = 30 (Eurasia).

Flowering summer. Moist or dry slopes or banks, shaded or open, bogs and conifer woods; 0--400 m; B.C. (Queen Charlotte Islands); Alaska; Eurasia.

SELECTED REFERENCE

Beese, W. J. 1983. White malaxis, Malaxis monophyllos var. diphyllos, an addition to the orchids of Canada from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. Canad. Field-Naturalist 97: 215–216.