Plant ID request - white bell shaped flowers on spike, lanceolate leaves = Platanthera dilatata

Hi - first time requesting as I'm stumped on this one so really hoping someone knows what this is. We have it coming up along the sides of the driveway (hard-packed clay) and one even showed up in our "arrowhead paddies" (muddy and waterlogged soil).

The most similar thing I've found is colic-root (Aletris farinosa https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/species/aletris/farinosa/) but it's not quite the same - no basal rosette on these guys, plus this has large green calyx or receptacles on the flower spike.

These two were cut off at the ground so show the entire above ground portion of the plant.

That seems to be Platanthera dilatata also called; White Rein-Orchid or Bog Candle


looks like this

Bryant RedHawk wrote:That seems to be Platanthera dilatata also called; White Rein-Orchid or Bog Candle

Woot! Mystery solved. That's it Thanks Bryant.

PFAF says it's not really good for much - they show a report of edibility for cooked tubers (taste like "frozen potatoes") and that it's good for "gravel" (kidney/bladder stones) but lots of other sources say the plant is poisonous. At least it's a nice little freebie for the bees

glad to be of help.