Spiranthes ovalis Lindl.1840

Photo by © Prem Subrahmanyam

Common Name or Meaning The Oval Spiranthes - The Oval Ladies Tresses

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in Ontario Canada, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland,. Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missisppi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas in rich, damp woodlands and floodplains as a small to medium szied, cold growing terrestrial with 2 to 4, basal, oblanceolate leaves that are present at blooming which occcurs in the fall on an erect, terminal, stout, pubescent, to 12" [30 cm] long, 10 to 50, densely flowered inflorescence carrying the wide open, fragrant flowers in three rows

Synonyms Gyrostachys ovalis (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Ibidium ovalis (Lindl.) House 1906; Spiranthes cernua var. parviflora Chapm. 1897; Spiranthes montana Raf. 1833; Spiranthes ovalis var. erostellata Catling 1983; Spiranthes parviflora (Chapm.) Ames 1905; Spiranthes smallii Schltr. 1920; Triorchis ovalis (Lindl.) Nieuwl. 1913; Triorchis ovalis (Lindl.) House 1920

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Studies in the Family Orchidaceae Vol 1 Ames 1905 as S parviflora; The Native Orchids of Florida Luer 1972 drawing/photos fide; The Native Orchids of the United States and Canada Luer 1975 drawing/photos fide; Wild Orchids of The South eastern USA North of the Florida penninsula Paul Martin Brown 2004

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