Slender Ladies' Tresses

(Spiranthes lacera)

 

   

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

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

 

Slender Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes lacera [Raf.] Raf.)

Identification: Flowers small, white. Lower petal hanging, rectangular and not constricted at the apex and with a large, green spot at its base. Flowers do not arch downward on the stem. Flowers without flower stems and arranged in a obvious single, elongate spiral at the top of the plant. Leaves ovate-elongate in a basal cluster. Stem with reduced scalelike bracts. Plant 8 to 24 inches in height.

Distribution: Throughout most of eastern North America.

Habitat: Slender Ladie's Tresses is found in old fields.

Flowering period:  August to October.

Similar Species: The combination of the large, green spot at the base of the lower flower petal and the single spiral of flowers will usually identify this species.

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