Panarctic Flora

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2710-11 The Platanthera group Limnorchis, Lysiella

Notes: Platanthera s. lat. is polymorphic. The northern species belong to three morphologically rather different groups centred on P. dilatata-hyperborea, P. obtusata-oligantha, and P. bifolia-montana. Already Rydberg (1900) treated these groups as three genera, respectively, Limnorchis, Lysiella, and Platanthera s. str., but the majority of current authors accept only one genus, Platanthera (e.g., Sheviak 2002b). We accept the segregate genera for the Checklist but they are not well supported by molecular evidence (see Bateman et al. 2009 and references therein) and may have to be merged (again). Limnorchis and Platanthera s. str. are supported as branches (within Platanthera s. lat.), whereas Lysiella is not supported. Platanthera s. str. is not known from the Arctic but P. bifolia (L.) Rich. approaches in Norway.

Higher Taxa