Autumn lady’s tresses

Autumn lady’s tresses (Spiranthes spiralis), are one of the forests easily overlooked floral treasures. A small and delicate member of the orchid family, Autumn lady’s tresses flower from late summer through to mid autumn, and in a good season Spy Holms can be covered in them. 

Autumn lady’s tresses

Another orchid to add to my list of orchids spotted, this time it's the beautiful Autumn lady’s tresses (Spiranthes spiralis), a new one on me.  From a tight basal rosette Autumn lady’s tresses have a delicate hairy spike which has leaves which appear more like scales so close are they, around this stem 10 to 20 tiny white flowers spiral; descriptions say that Autumn lady’s tresses can grow to 30cm, although the highest I saw were no more than 15cm and majority were no more than 8cm high at most. The flowers are comprised of a large curved white lower tongue which is greenish inside, two wings and an upper hood, like the stem the petals are covered in short white hairs; the flowers appear to be covered in tiny crystals. It's said they can appear in great numbers then disappear for years before returning in even greater numbers, this may account for why although I've walked the way for years I don't remember ever seeing them before. A really lovely find.