Seed micromorphology supports the splitting of <i>Limnorchis</i> from <i>Platanthera</i> (Orchidaceae)

Abstract

Seeds of several species of the genera Platanthera and Habenaria have been studied by means of scanning electron microscopy. In the genus Platanthera , two morphological patterns were found. One of these appears in the so‐called ‘ dilatata – hyperborea complex’. It is proposed that this pattern is a good diagnostic character to split off this group of species into the genus Limnorchis . In Habenaria , the morphological patterns vary between the species and differs completely from those found in Platanthera .