Tiny white flowers wind up a slender, leafless stem in a single spiral like a plait, in short turf in late summer
Autumn lady's-tresses — Spiranthes spiralis.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Autumn lady's-tresses
Native · flowers late Aug–early Sep · short turf, dunes, cliff-tops, lawns
Spiranthes spiralis — Orchidaceae
Autumn lady's-tresses is a tiny orchid that flowers when almost everything else is over, its small white flowers winding up a slender stem in a single spiral like a plait of hair. It grows in short, poor turf on chalk, dunes, cliff-tops, churchyards and old lawns, and its leaves appear only after the flowers have faded, in a new rosette beside the old stem.
How to spot them
- ▸Slender stem 5–15 cm tall with small white flowers arranged in a single spiral, winding clockwise or anticlockwise
- ▸No leaves on the flowering stem: the new rosette of leaves is beside the stem, or appears after flowering
- ▸Tiny tubular flowers with a green-marked, frilly lip
- ▸Short, poor, unfertilised turf: chalk grassland, dunes, cliff-tops, limestone pavement, churchyards, old lawns and verges
- ▸Flowers in late August to early September, long after other orchids
How to know it
A rosette of leaves for next year's growth appears beside the flowering stem rather than at its base, after the flowers
Autumn lady's-tresses — BSBI.
Bumblebees pollinate it, and it can take around eleven years from seed germination to the first leaf rosette
Autumn lady's-tresses — BSBI.
A plant of old lawns, churchyards, cliff-tops and dunes that flowers when the year's other orchids are long over
Autumn lady's-tresses.
Its name compares its twisting flower spike to a woman's plaited hair, and its genus name is the Greek for 'coil of flowers'
Autumn lady's-tresses — spiralis.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Orchidaceae; spiralis for the spiral of flowers; Spiranthes comes from Greek roots for coil and flower
- •Native; flowers late August to early September (BSBI)
- •BSBI: flowers spiral up the stem in a single row, clockwise or anticlockwise; after flowering new root tubers store energy for next year, and the new leaf rosette develops beside the flowering stem
- •BSBI: bumblebees are the principal pollinators; it does not self-pollinate
- •BSBI: a long partnership with mycorrhizal and endophytic fungi is needed, with about 11 years from seed germination to the first rosette
- •Substantial declines in Britain, Ireland and central Europe through intensive farming, herbicides and reduced grazing that lets rank grasses shade it out (BSBI)
- •Habitats: unimproved, low-nitrogen grasslands including cliff-tops, coastal dunes, limestone pavement, churchyards and roadside verges
- •Not on Schedule 8, but it is an offence under section 13(1)(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for anyone who is not an authorised person to intentionally uproot any wild plant. Do not dig up wild orchids
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Sources
- Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland — Spiranthes spiralis, Autumn Lady's-tresses
- legislation.gov.uk — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 13