Wide-leaved Ladies' Tresses

(Spiranthes lucida)

Wide-leaved Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes lucida [H.H. Eat.] Ames)

Identification: Flowers small, white. Lower petal hanging, rectangular and not constricted at the apex. Lower petal also with a central yellow spot with green lines. Flowers do not arch downward on the stem. Flowers without flower stems and arranged in a single, spiral at the top of the plant. Leaves ovate-elongate in a basal cluster. Stem with reduced scalelike bracts.

Distribution: Most of eastern North America, but absent from the southeastern United States.

Habitat: Wide-leaved Ladie's Tresses is found in forest and along the banks of streams and rivers.

Flowering period: June to August.

Similar Species: Wide-leaved Ladie's Tresses shares wide basal leaves with Slender Ladie's Tresses. Hower the lower petal of Slender Ladie's Tresses has a large green spot at its base. In contrast the lower petal of Wide-leaved Ladie's Tresses has a yellow spot with green lines. The flowering period of Wide-leaved Ladie's Tresses is much earlier than that of Slender Ladie's Tresses (August to October).