THE ORCHID FAMILY 
J 55 
into 2 strap-shaped lobes, but having also a very small lobe on either side at the base ; the column 
is crested ; the stem is 3-8, usually about 6, inches high, slender, smooth (glabrous), and with 
2, or even 3 or 4 small, opposite, stalkless, egg-shaped leaves, |-i inch long, which are heart-shaped 
(cordate) at the base. 
Rare. On mountain moors and open woods, generally distributed throughout the British Isles ; 
very scarce in the south of England, more common in the north and in Scotland, and local 
in Ireland. June — September. Perennial. 
VII. LADY’S-TRESSES. (SPIRAN'THES. Rich.) — Flowers small, stalkless (sessile), gaping, 
white or pink, in a spirally-twisted spike ; the lip (labellum) lowermost (inverted) owing to the 
twisting of the seedcase. The outer row of the perianth of 3 lobes, the upper one cohering with 
the inner row, all 3 lobes similar to the two side lobes of the inner row, the remaining lobe of the 
inner row, the lip (labellum), broader, not lobed but more or less distinctly toothed, and embracing 
the column at the base, without a spur, but with 2 roundish receptacles which secrete honey. The 
column is short and is extended into a 2-lobed rostellum, on which is situated the anther ; there 
are two partially united, stalkless, club-shaped pollen-masses which are attached to a single gland ; 
the roundish stigma is situated on the column below the rostellum. Herbs with leaves on the 
flowering stem, or with a little tuft of leaves from the root by the side of the stem, and with thick 
fleshy root-fibres or a few oblong tubers. 
Flowers small, in 1 row, twisted. 
(1) Common Lady’s-Tresses. (Spiran'thes spiralis.) — Stem leafless, bearing bracts only, 
leaves in a tuft from the root ; root of 2 or 3 tubers. 
(2) Summer Lady’s-Tresses. (Spiran'thes sestivalis.) — Stem with a few leaves at the base; 
root of a few thick fleshy fibres. 
Flowers large, in 3 rows, twisted. 
(3) Drooping Lady’s-Tresses. (Spiran'thes Romanzoffiana.) — Stem very leafy; root of thick 
fleshy fibres. 
1. Common or Autumn Lady’s-Tresses. (Spiran'thes spiralis. Koch.)— As just 
described. An insignificant plant with small greenish-white, sweet scented flowers, growing in a 
single row, in a dense twisted spike, on a downy stem 3-9 inches high ; each flower has at its 
base a downy, pointed, egg-shaped bract, which is longer than and encloses the seedcase, 
and the stem has a few pointed, sheathing green bracts ; the leaves are oblong or egg-shaped 
(ovate), and appear in the autumn in a little tuft from the root, from the centre of which the next 
year’s flowering stem is produced ; the root consists of 2 or 3 oblong tubers. ( Spiranthes 
autumnalis. Rich.) \Plate 50. 
Not uncommon. On dry downs and hilly pastures, especially on chalk and limestone ; generally 
distributed throughout England but not found further north than Westmorland and Yorkshire, 
and very rare and local in Ireland, where it is only found in the south and centre. August — 
October. Perennial. 
2. Summer Lady’s-Tresses. (Spiran'thes aestivalis. Rich.)— A similar species with 
rather larger flowers in a looser spike, terminating a stem 6-18 inches high, on which are a few 
leaves sheathing the base ; the root is of a few thick fleshy fibres 2 or 3 inches long. 
Very rare. In bogs between Lyndhurst and Christchurch, in Wyre Forest, and in Jersey and 
Guernsey. July — August. Perennial 
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