Nodding Ladies' Tresses

(Spiranthes cernua)

 

   

 

Eggers, Steve D. and Donald M. Reed. 1997. Wetland plants and communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Nodding Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes cernua [L.] L.C. Rich)

Identification: Flowers small, white. Lower petal hanging, rectangular, and not constricted at the apex. Flowers arch downward on the stem. Flowers without flower stems (peduncles) and arranged in a double, elongate spiral at the top of the plant. Leaves grasslike in a basal cluster. Stem with reduced scalelike bracts. Plant 6 to 25 inches tall.

Distribution: Throughout most of eastern North America.

Habitat: Nodding Ladie's Tresses are found in meadows and bogs.

Flowering period: August to October.

Similar Species: Nodding Ladie's Tresses is most likely to be confused with Hooded Ladie's Tresses. The lower petal of Hooded Ladie's Tresses is constricted at the apex. The flowers are more crowded on the stem, and the flowers are not as downward arched as those of Nodding Ladie's Tresses. The flowers of Slender Ladie's Tresses are in an obvious single spiral around the stem and the base of the lower petal has a large green spot.

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