Flora of North America species comparison

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Spiranthes longilabris

giantspiral ladiestresses, giantspiral lady's tresses, longlip lady's tresses
Habit Plants 15–50 cm.
Roots

numerous, mostly to 1 cm diam., stout.
Leaves

fugacious or persisting through anthesis, to 3–5, cauline, reduced to sheathing bracts upward on stem, spreading, linear-lanceolate, keeled, 5–15 × 0.5 cm, rigid.
Inflorescences

spikes loosely to tightly spiraled, usually no more than 180°, 5–9 flowers per cycle of spiral, sometimes secund;

rachis sparsely pubescent, some trichomes capitate, glands obviously stalked.
Flowers

mostly horizontal, strongly gaping, white to cream;

sepals distinct to base, lanceolate, tapering in distal 1/3, (8–)9–10 × 2–3 mm;

lateral sepals widely spreading;

petals linear, slightly falcate, 7–9 × 2–2.5 mm;

lip yellow centrally, ovate in general outline, base rounded-dilated, apical portion descending, oblong, 8–11 × 4 mm, apex recurved with margin crisped;

basal calli erect, tapered, to 1 mm;

viscidium linear-lanceolate;

ovary mostly 7 mm.
Seeds

monoembryonic.

Spiranthes longilabris
Phenology Flowering Oct–Dec.
Habitat Primarily on coastal plain in dry to moist meadows, pine flatwoods and savannas, fields, roadsides
Elevation 0–50 m (0–200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Hybrids of Spiranthes longilabris and S. odorata are known as Spiranthes ×folsomii P. M. Brown.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 535.
Parent taxa Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Cranichideae > subtribe Spiranthinae > Spiranthes
Sibling taxa
S. brevilabris, S. casei, S. cernua, S. delitescens, S. diluvialis, S. eatonii, S. floridana, S. infernalis, S. lacera, S. laciniata, S. lucida, S. magnicamporum, S. ochroleuca, S. odorata, S. ovalis, S. parksii, S. porrifolia, S. praecox, S. romanzoffiana, S. torta, S. tuberosa, S. vernalis
Synonyms Ibidium longilabre
Name authority Lindley: Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 467. (1840)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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