Hi Alison-- The main difference between P. hookeri and P. orbiculata is the number of bract (lets?) on the scape (P. orbiculata usually has a few and P. hookeri usually has i tiny one at most. Also P. hookeri is usually a much shorter plant. I double checked in Arthur and that's all he mentions. I'm winging it from experience up in the Houlton area, where P. hookeri was more common than P. orbiculata. I have seen orbiculata in cedar swamps, but usually I found it in nice hardwood forests. This isn't much to go on, but Gale's info about the wet years rings true with my observations. Sal ----- Original Message ----- From: Alison Dibble <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 9:35 AM Subject: Re: Platanthera hookeri > Hi Don and all online JBS members, > > Greetings everyone. > > Check out pp. 27-28 for the list of specimens seen by Jean Wallace Cameron, > The Orchids of Maine, 1951 (reprinted 1976) for some info on > distribution. Jean referred to Platanthera hookeri as "very local". > > I have seen what I thought was this in the Penobscot Experimental Forest in > Bradley in a midsuccessional oak stand near Blackman Stream. It was not in > flower. Does anyone know how to tell it from P. orbiculata when not flowering? > > I have never seen large populations of this species in Maine -- where I > encounter it there seem to be at most about five plants. > > > Best, > > Alison > > > At 08:25 AM 10/22/2001 -0400, Cameron, Don S. wrote: > >[log in to unmask] >