Hooded Ladies' Tresses

(Spiranthes romanzoffiana)

Hooded Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana Cham.)

Identification: Flowers small, white. Lower petal hanging, rectangular, constricted at the apex. Flowers not arched downward on the stem. Flowers without flower stems and arranged in a crowded, double, elongate spiral at the top of the plant. Leaves grasslike in a basal cluster. Stem with reduced scalelike bracts. Plant 6 to 15 inches in height.

Distribution: Newfoundland to Alaska and southward to New England, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Also occurs throughout most of the western United States.

Habitat: Hooded Ladie's Tresses is found in bogs and wet meadows.

Flowering period: July to August.

Similar Species: Hooded Ladie's Tresses is most likely to be mistaken for Nodding Ladie's Tresses. The lower petal of Nodding Ladie's Tresses, however, is not constricted at the apex. The flowers are less crowded on the stem and the flowers are visibly arched downward.