Thursday, November 13, 2014

Spiranthes romanzoffiana


Spiranthes romanzoffiana is one of the shorter and more densely-flowered species in the genus. It is supposed to grow as tall as 50 cm, but we very seldom see plants that tall. They are mostly in the 15-30 cm range with some plants little more than a few cm. It is also quite common throughout its range and we have seen it by the thousands in some locations. It prefers wet, sunny areas and blooms in July and August when these areas are often starting to dry out. The flowers are creamy-white to greenish-white and well deserve their common named, Hooded Ladies'-tresses, since the flowers are unique in the genus in that respect. Those flowers are a little over 1 cm in size and have a mild almond scent.

 July 16
(Edmonton, Alberta)



July 31
(North Cascades)






August 2
(North Cascades)















2 comments:

Angel Mar said...

Fantastic photography Ron! The species is much more dense than the two we have here. A pleasure to see them. Hugs

Ron said...

Thanks, Angel. We have two other Spiranthes in Washington but they are both quite rare and one is, in fact, endangered. Neither of them is as densely flowered as this species and both tend to be taller.