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Taxon  Report  
Piperia elegans  (Lindl.) Rydb.
Coast piperia,   Elegant piperia,   Elegant rein orchid,   Hillside piperia
Piperia elegans is a perennial herb that is native to California.
Siskiyou Del Norte Modoc Humboldt Shasta Lassen Trinity Plumas Tehama Butte Mendocino Glenn Sierra Yuba Lake Nevada Colusa Placer Sutter El Dorado Yolo Alpine Napa Sonoma Sacramento Mono Amador Solano Calaveras Tuolumne San Joaquin Marin Contra Costa Alameda Santa Cruz Mariposa Madera San Francisco San Mateo Merced Fresno Stanislaus Santa Clara Inyo San Benito Tulare Kings Monterey San Bernardino San Luis Obispo Kern Santa Barbara Ventura Los Angeles Riverside Orange San Diego Imperial
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Bloom Period
Subspecies and Varieties:
Genus: Piperia
Family: Orchidaceae  
Category: angiosperm  
PLANTS group:Monocot
Jepson eFlora section: monocot

Communities: Northern Coastal Scrub, Closed-cone Pine Forest, Yellow Pine Forest, Red Fir Forest, Foothill Woodland, Chaparral
Name Status:
Accepted by JEF + PLANTS

Alternate Names:
iNatPlatanthera elongata
Information about  Piperia elegans from other sources
Nursery availability from CNPLX
Commercial availability unknown.
Jepson eFlora

USDA PLANTS Profile (PIEL2)

Photos on Calflora

Photos on CalPhotos

Google Images

Photos on iNaturalist

ID Tips on PlantID.net

[Wikipedia] Description: Platanthera elegans is a species of orchid known by several common names, including elegant piperia, coast piperia, hillside rein orchid, and hillside bogorchid. This is a showy flowering plant native to western North America.[1][2] It grows from a caudex tuber and sends up a thick stem just under a meter in maximum height. The stem is topped with a cylindrical spike inflorescence of densely packed flowers with curving white to greenish-yellow petals.[3][4][5] Coastal individuals are noticeably thicker and have more flowers than those that grow further inland; it is uncertain if these are variants, subspecies, or even separate species. They are both currently treated as P. elegans. Other species of Plantanthera, notably the endangered species P. yadonii are quite similar in appearance to some populations of this species. (link added by Mary Ann Machi)


Suggested Citation
Calflora: Information on California plants for education, research and conservation, with data contributed by public and private institutions and individuals. [web application]. 2024. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database [a non-profit organization]. Available: https://www.calflora.org/   (Accessed: 11/21/2024).