This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we have some wiry white wildflowers of the Orchid variety, the Ladies’-tresses of genus Spiranthes.
Ladies’-tresses are by far our most widespread and prolific orchid here in the Lowcountry. They can be found in a wide variety of habitats where moist, poorly-drained soils abound. Places like meadows, roadsides, glades, and lawns are common favorites. They grow singly but are rarely alone, with nearby neighbors soon to make themselves known. There are at least five species from Spiranthes common to Charleston County: Spring Ladies’-tresses (S. vernalis), Greenvein Ladies’-tresses (S. praecox), Nodding Ladies’-tresses (S. cernua), Marsh Ladies’-tresses (S. odorata), and Lacelip Ladies’-tresses (S. laciniata). However, with the exception of Greenvein, I’ve never been great at telling them apart. So we’ll leave today’s vignette at the genus level.
Ladies’-tresses spend most of the year as a small rosette of grassy-leaves intermixed between the surrounding grasses and forbs. They’re quite innocuous and hard to spot until spring. After the April showers comes these May flowers. Ladies’-tresses produce a single flower stalk to a height of 12 to 18 inches. This stalk is ringed at the peak in a spiraling ascent of flowers. Each flower is pearl-white and some species are accented in green or yellow. The flowers are small with mirrored symmetry and a tiny mouth, the lower lip with a wavy margin and the top usually up-ticked. A pair of narrow, pointed petals straddle each side. A very reserved display overall.
Although their flower is mostly unremarkable, what’s most remarkable about this Orchid is its hardiness. Orchids are known for being finicky plants that succeed only under very specific conditions. Ladies’-tresses are no such thing. They thrive in lawns and gardens around the state by tolerating poor soils, trampling, and regular mowing. Maybe if you’re lucky, they’re already growing peacefully in your yard, just like they are in mine.
