Platanthera dilatata

Platanthera dilatata grows in Canada’s ten provinces, but it’s in Badger, on Newfoundland’s route 1, that we had the chance to meet her for the first time.    Gone for a stroll near our camp site, we came across a small glade where rose a colony of stems. A pleasant vanilla-like perfume drifted through the air.  Wild with joy all night of with our brilliant discovery, we realized the next day that plathantera dilatata is as common in this region as the dandelion in Montreal…

It is found mostly in glades, growing in a mix of moss and soaked clay.  With about fifty flowers on each stem, platanthera dilatata is certainly one of Canada’s most beautiful wild orchids.