NameThatPlant.net: Spiranthes lucida

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

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Spiranthes lucida FAMILY Orchidaceae Go to FSUS key

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Learn more about Spiranthes from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Spiranthes lucida FAMILY Orchidaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Spiranthes lucida

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26 (2002)

Spiranthes lucida

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Ibidium plantagineum

COMMON NAME:
Shining Ladies'-tresses

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Spiranthes lucida, Shining Ladies'-tresses

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_ibpl_001_lvd

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Spiranthes lucida FAMILY Orchidaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Spiranthes lucida FAMILY Orchidaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Spiranthes lucida

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 26
Spiranthes lucida

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Ibidium plantagineum

2728

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Sunny seepage over amphibolite or other basic rock, moist banks and shores, per Weakley's Flora

Native to North Carolina

Rare

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

LEAVES:
Simple
Basal

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White (with yellow or orange-yellow lip & greenish "V")
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
Bisexual

FRUIT:
Spring/Summer?
Capsule

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

"Common names should be written in lower case unless part of the name is proper and then the first letter of only the proper term is capitalized. For example, sugar maple would be written with lower case letters while Japanese maple would be written with the capital J. This is the accepted method for writing common names in scientific circles and should be familiar to the student. In this text, and many others, common names are written with capital first letters. This was done to set the name off from the rest of the sentence and make it more evident to the reader. Actually in modern horticultural writings the capitalized common name predominates." — Michael Dirr, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants

If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".

Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".