| Section 5 » Order Orchidales » Family Orchidaceae |
Show/Hide Synonym
| taxonName | relationship | relatedTaxonName | relatedTaxonRefText | relComments |
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| Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Radford, Ahles, and Bell (1968) | | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Wofford (1989) | | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Correll (1950)=X. [also see Sacoila] | (also see S. sylvatica) | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Ibidium praecox | Small (1933, 1938) | (also see S. sylvatica) | |
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| Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Gleason and Cronquist (1991) | | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Fernald (1950) | | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Flora of North America (1993b, 1997, 2000, 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2004b, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2007a, 2009, 2010) | | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Gleason (1952) | | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Godfrey and Wooten (1979, 1981) | | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | Kartesz (1999) | | | Spiranthes praecox | < | Spiranthes praecox | | | | Source: Weakley's Flora |
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| Author | (Walter) S. Watson | |
| Distribution | Essentially throughout the Coastal Plain, ranging west into the eastern edge of the Piedmont, with an isolated record from Guilford County. All records from the Outer Banks prove to be the newly described S. sylvatica.
This is a primarily Coastal Plain species ranging north to NJ, south to southern FL, and west to eastern TX. Though there are scattered records in northern parts of the Gulf States, it apparently does not quite range north to TN. | |
| Abundance | Fairly common in the southeastern Coastal Plain, in coastal counties. Uncommon to infrequent west into the Sandhills and northward to the VA line, in the Coastal Plain. Rare in the Piedmont portion of the range. This is one of the more frequently seen ladies'-tresses in the Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | This is a wetland Spiranthes, as are nearly all of those found in the Coastal Plain. It has a wide range of habitats, from wet savannas, to marsh edges, ditches, open swamps, and other damp to wet and fairly sunny sites. It may occur in seepages and bogs farther inland. | |
| Phenology | This is a spring-blooming Spiranthes, mostly centered in April but from March into July. It fruits shortly after flowering. | |
| Identification | This is a fairly "standard" Spiranthes, growing to about 10-12 inches tall, and fairly slender, with a very narrow inflorescence of many small white flowers. The flowers tend to be in a single rank, normally with some spiraling, but some plants have the flowers nearly secund (all on the same side of the stem), whereas others may have a fairly tight spiral. There are a few basal, grass-like leaves. What distinguishes this species from similar ones, such as S. vernalis, is that it has green lines along veins on the upper side of the lip. You may have to look carefully inside each floral tube to see this, but the green lines (not simply a solid green area) should mark the species as being S. praecox. Also, this species is mostly glabrous or sparsely hairy on the upper part of the stem, whereas S. vernalis is definitely pubescent on the upper portions of the stem. Thankfully for observers, this species is not too hard to find in damp to wet spots in the southeastern counties, in the spring season. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
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| Other Common Name(s) | Green-vein Ladies'-tresses (a good name), Giant Ladies'-tresses (a poor name) | |
| State Rank | S3 [S3S4] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACW link |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
