Spiranthes magnicamporum (Great Plains Ladies’ Tresses) on 10-23-21, #850-3.

Orchidaceae Juss.

or-kid-AY-see-ee OR or-kid-AY-see-eye

The plant family Orchidaceae was named and described as such by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in Genera Plantarum in 1789. 

As of 12-21-23 when this page was last updated, Plants of the World Online by Kew lists 704 genera in the family commonly referred to as the Orchid family. 

I have not grown any “orchids” but I would like to give them a shot in the future. HOWEVER… I ran across the wildflower Spiranthes cernua (Nodding Ladies’ Tresses) in 2018. In 2019 and 2021, I found more that turned out to be two other species (according to members of iNaturalist). You can click on the names under the photos to go to their own pages. 

You can check out the links below for further information about the family.

PLANTS OF THE WORLD ONLINE
FLORA OF NORTH AMERICA
WIKIPEDIA
BRITANNICA

Spiranthes cernua (Nodding Ladies’ Tresses) on 10-3-18, #514-26.

I had noticed several hit-and-miss Ladies’ Tresses growing just over the hill in the main hayfield. They were identified as Spiranthes cernua (Nodding Ladies’ Tresses) in 2018.

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Spiranthes lacera var. gracilis (Southern Slender Ladies Tresses) on 9-1-19, #620-60.

In 2019, I found several more in another area not far away from where the plants were in 2018. These turned out to be Spiranthes lacera var. gracilis (Southern Slender Ladies Tresses)… These plants were more dainty with smaller flowers than Spiranthes cernua.

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Spiranthes magnicamporum (Great Plains Ladies’ Tresses) on 10-23-21, #850-2.

Then in 2021, I ran across a few Ladies’ Tresses in the south hayfield. I had never seen them there before. These were identified as Spiranthes magnicamporum (Southern Slender Ladies Tresses). They had larger flowers than the other two…

I found it quite interesting to have identified three species of Spiranthes on this farm. Oddly, I couldn’t find any of the other two in 2021… Heck, I haven’t found any since 2021!

My thanks to iNaturalist and its members for helping me get a positive ID for the Ladies Tresses and many other species of wildflowers on my farm.