Family: Orchidaceae,
Orchids
Genus: Spiranthes
Description
General: erect perennial, hairless,10-40 cm tall, from
clusters of enlarged, fleshy roots.
 Leaves: alternate, usually several, near the base of the
stem, linear to narrowly oblong, mostly 8-20 cm long and
5-10 mm broad, abruptly changing upward to short,
sheathing, lanceolate bracts.
 Flowers: white or cream to greenish-white, tubular,
sweet-scented, many in 1 to 4 spiralling vertical rows in a
dense spike, 3-12 cm long. Bracts lance-shaped, 10-20
mm long, whitish or pale green. Sepals sticky-short-hairy,
the upper one and the petals joined into a curved tubular
hood 7-12 mm long, lower sepals often with bent back tips.
Lip sharply curved backward, about as long as the sepals,
the basal half concave, with erect edges, tapered to a
rounded tip.
Flowering time: July-August.
 Fruits: erect capsules, up to 10 mm long, many-seeded.
Distribution
Moist to swampy areas, foothills to montane zone, in w.and
c. parts of MT. Also from AK to Newfoundland, s. to CA,
AZ, NM, NE, and e. to IA and NY. |
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