A densely packed spike (raceme) of 50–100 small, whitish-green flowers covers the upper half of the stem, typically 8–28 inches tall. Note the flowers have a sweet aroma, a slender, cylindrical spur, and the lower lip is slightly enlarged at the base and narrows slightly to a rounded tip.

FLOWER: June–August. Distinctively whitish-green flowers in NM, 3/8–5/8 inch long (1–1.5 cm); two side sepals fold back at about 45 degrees (not folded against the spur); hood formed by upper sepal and two lateral petals; lip petal points downward, is narrowly lance-shaped, to 1/2-inch long (12 mm), with the base slightly wider than the rounded tip; the nectar spur curves downward, is slender, cylindrical, and about the same length as the lip; the stamens and style are fused to form a column about half as long as the hood. In newly opened flowers, the lip curves upward to cover the column.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades oblong to lance-shaped, 2–12 inches long (5–30 cm) becoming smaller up the stem.

HABITAT: Wet soils of mountain bogs, seeps, meadows, streamsides, roadsides; ponderosa pine-Douglas fir, spruce, mixed conifer forests.

ELEVATION: 7,000–11,500 feet.

RANGE: CO, ID, MT, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY; widespread in Rocky Mts. and Great Lakes states eastward to Maine.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Tall White Bog Orchid, P. dilatata, has pure white flowers and a lip with a broad base and narrow tip. Northern Green Orchid, P. aquilonis, has unscented, yellow-green flowers, lateral sepals that fold back against the spur, a more club-shaped spur shorter than the lip, and is not densely flowered. Lady’ Tresses, Spiranthes species, have flowers in spiraling rows up the stem and the flowers do not have spurs.

NM COUNTIES: In NM mountains in mid- to high-elevation, wet habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Colfax, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Taos.