Flora of North America species comparison

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Spiranthes tuberosa

little ladies'-tresses, little lady's tresses
Habit Plants 5–30 cm.
Roots

solitary, vertical, tuberous, turbinate, mostly to 1 cm diam.
Leaves

fugacious, 3–5, basal, spreading, oval-oblanceolate, 2–6 × 1–2 cm.
Spikes

loosely spiraled, 4–7 flowers per cycle of spiral;

rachis glabrous.
Flowers

pure white, gaping from near middle, tubular portion less than 3 mm;

sepals distinct to base, 5 × 1 mm;

lateral sepals slightly spreading;

petals linear to lance-oblong, 5 × 1 mm, apex acute to obtuse;

lip 5 × 2.5 mm, ovate to oblong, apex dilated with broad crisped, finely lacerate margin;

veins several, branches very short;

basal calli long-pointed, mostly to 1 mm;

viscidium linear-lanceolate;

ovary mostly 3 mm.
Seeds

monoembryonic.

Spiranthes tuberosa
Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep.
Habitat Dry to open woods, outcrops, old fields, roadsides, cemeteries
Elevation 0–400 m (0–1300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The nomenclatural history of Spiranthes tuberosa is rather complex, and among the names applied to it are Spiranthes beckii Lindley and Ibidium beckii (Lindley) House. See D. S. Correll (1950) for a discussion.

This species is easily recognized by its pure white flowers, broad crisped lip, and fugacious leaves.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 537.
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. longilabris, S. lucida, S. magnicamporum, S. ochroleuca, S. odorata, S. ovalis, S. parksii, S. porrifolia, S. praecox, S. romanzoffiana, S. torta, S. vernalis
Synonyms S. grayi, S. simplex, S. tuberosa var. grayi
Name authority Rafinesque: Herb. Raf., 45. (1833)
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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