Lesser Ladies' Tresses - by Diane Porter
Lesser Ladies’ Tresses is in bloom. I watch my step on the trail through the woods, careful not to trample the small stalk. It’s thin like a stick of incense.
It’s an orchid!
This orchid is not flamboyant. Rather, it is strikingly inconspicuous. This September, I have found only six, at widely spaced locations, and only along one path.
But it’s lovely, with tiny blossoms spiraling around the top of the stem. Each white flower has a hint of ruffles and a trace of color in the throat.
Lesser Ladies’ Tresses grows naturally in dappled light of woodlands, where it forms an association with particular fungi in the soil, without which it cannot live. I don’t know of any gardener who has ever raised this species from seed or by transplants, and nurseries do not offer it for sale. A plant dug up and transplanted would almost certainly die.
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One fall, I found a seed pod on the ground from a Lesser Ladies’ Tresses stem that had broken off. I took the pod home and examined it under the microscope. When I opened the pod, something wispy floated out — its almost invisible seeds.
Here’s what my microscope showed. The three marks at the top are millimeters. (Ten such marks would equal the width of the tip of my little finger.) Only nature can plant such tiny seeds and count on getting them to grow.
The genus Spiranthes is named after the spiral braids of a lady’s hair. The genus has about 30-50 species worldwide, of which most are in North America.
Lesser Ladies’ Tresses, Spiranthes ovalis, is one of the smallest. It is found at scattered locations throughout Iowa but is considered rare in the state.
If you would enjoy this orchid, you must walk in the woods with your eyes wide open. And don’t forget to bring your luck. Otherwise you’ll walk right past it. When I do spot Lesser Ladies’ Tresses, I kneel down for a long, deep look.
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