Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas & Georgia

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2156

Forb
Perennial

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Documented growing wild in GA NC SC

Common in GA-SC Coastal Plain (uncommon or rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)

Look for it in savannas, swamps, bogs, per Weakley's Flora

map
To see a detailed map, click here

 

LEAVES:
Simple
Mostly basal (when present)

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White (marked with green)
Bisexual
Bilaterally symmetrical
3 sepals, two lateral and one dorsal
3 petals, the two lateral similar and a third (the lip) enlarged
stamens and pistil fused together into a column
Inferior ovary

FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Capsule

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Asparagales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
 Spiranthes praecox   FAMILY Orchidaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Spiranthes praecox   FAMILY Orchidaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 049-12-006:
 Spiranthes praecox   FAMILY Orchidaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933)
 Ibidium praecox

 

COMMON NAME:
 Grassleaf Ladies'-tresses, Giant Ladies'-tresses

Click or hover over the thumbnails to see larger pictures.

image of Spiranthes praecox, Grassleaf Ladies'-tresses, Giant Ladies'-tresses

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_ibpr_001_lvd

        

image of Spiranthes praecox, Grassleaf Ladies'-tresses, Giant Ladies'-tresses

Jim Fowler    jafspraecox_close

May    Brunswick County    NC

Green Swamp

Lip has green veins radiating from its center. Lateral sepals appressed, per Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History.

image of Spiranthes praecox, Grassleaf Ladies'-tresses, Giant Ladies'-tresses

Jim Fowler    jafspraecox_group

May    Brunswick County    NC

Green Swamp