Spiranthes porrifolia |
Spiranthes floridana |
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creamy ladies' tresses, creamy lady's tresses, western ladies'-tresses |
Florida lady's tresses |
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Habit | Plants 15–60 cm. | Plants 7–40 cm. |
Roots | few–several, spreading to descending, tuberous, mostly to 1 cm diam. |
few–numerous, spreading to descending, mostly to 0.5 cm diam., stout. |
Leaves | persisting through anthesis or fugaceous, basal, often on proximal portion of stem, ascending, linear to linear-lanceolate, linear-oblanceolate, oblanceolate or elliptic, to 34 × 3.5 cm. |
usually persisting through anthesis, 3–5, basal, spreading, oval-oblanceolate, 2–6 × 1–2 cm. |
Spikes | usually very tightly spiraled, rarely loosely spiraled, usually 3 flowers per cycle of spiral; rachis glabrous to sparsely pubescent, trichomes less (usually much less) than 0.18 mm, capitate glands often sessile. |
secund to loosely spiraled, 8–10 flowers per cycle of spiral; rachis glabrous to sparsely pubescent, trichomes commonly minute, abortive; any glands stalked, trichomes then capitate. |
Flowers | ascending, creamy to markedly yellowish, slenderly tubular; sepals connate at base, 4.6–11 mm, apex reflexed-spreading; petals linear-lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, apex reflexed-spreading, obtuse to subacute or subemarginate; lip lance-ovate to lanceolate, 4–9.5 × 1.9–4.3 mm, apex recurved less than to scarcely more than apices of sepals and petals, only slightly or not at all dilated, with subapical dense cushion of peg-shaped trichomes on adaxial surface; veins few to several, branches wide-spreading or often parallel; viscidia linear to linear-elliptic; ovary mostly 2–7.5 mm. |
creamy yellow to pale greenish yellow; sepals 5 × 1 mm, distinct to base, appressed; petals elliptic, slightly oblique, linear to lance-oblong, 5 × 1 mm, apex acute to obtuse; lip commonly yellow centrally, ovate to oblong, 5 × 2.5 mm, apex dilated, yellow and papillate-pubescent, its margin crisped, finely lacerate; veins several, branches very short; basal calli long-pointed, mostly to 1 mm; viscidium linear-lanceolate; ovary mostly 3 mm. |
Seeds | monoembryonic. |
monoembryonic. |
2n | = 44 [66]. |
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Spiranthes porrifolia |
Spiranthes floridana |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Feb–Apr. |
Habitat | Moist to wet riparian meadows, stream banks, marshes, fens, seeping banks | Dry to moist roadsides, fields |
Elevation | 100–2600 m (300–8500 ft) | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA
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AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX
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Discussion | Spiranthes floridana and S. brevilabris are often and easily confused, although the degree of pubescence is an excellent diagnostic tool in the field. This species has become very uncommon, with only a single extant population known in 1998–2000. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 26. | FNA vol. 26. |
Parent taxa | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Cranichideae > subtribe Spiranthinae > Spiranthes | Orchidaceae > subfam. Orchidoideae > tribe Cranichideae > subtribe Spiranthinae > Spiranthes |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. romanzoffiana var. porrifolia | Ibidium floridanum, S. brevilabris var. floridana, S. gracilis var. floridana |
Name authority | Lindley: Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl., 467. (1840) | (Wherry) Cory: Rhodora 38: 405. (1936) |
Web links |