Flora of North America species comparison

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Cephalanthera

cephalanthera, helleborine, phantom-orchid, snow-orchid
Habit Herbs, perennial, achlorophyllous.
Roots

fleshy, slender, scattered along slender rhizome.
Stems

leafy.
Leaves

several, alternate;

blade spreading, plicate, or reduced to appressed sheathing bracts.
Inflorescences

terminal, solitary spikes, lax;

floral bracts often foliaceous, large to minute, scarious distally.
Flowers

few–many, resupinate, sessile, showy;

lip white with yellow markings, divided by median constriction, saccate, distal end with fleshy parallel adaxial lamellae;

pollinaria absent;

pollinia 2;

viscidia absent.
Fruits

capsules.

Cephalanthera
Distribution
from USDA
w North America; Widespread; Eurasia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 15 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 583. Authors: Charles J. Sheviak, Paul M. Catling.
Parent taxa Orchidaceae > subfam. Epidendroideae > tribe Neottieae > subtribe Limodorinae
Subordinate taxa
C. austiniae
Name authority Richard: De Orchid. Eur., 29. (1817)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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