Copper Ladies Tresses Profile Up on the Website

I covered Copper Ladies' Tresses (Mesadenus lucayanus) in a previous post.  As is often the case, I use this blog as a way to get some information and photographs out prior to setting up a formal profile on the Florida Native Orchids website.  In this case, quite a bit of time has elapsed between the initial blog entry and the plant profile, as I put my focus on setting up other profiles and generally updating the website to fully utilize MySQL and PHP for the orchid gallery.

So, after a very long delay, here finally is the profile for Copper Ladies Tresses on the Florida Native Orchids site (click the thumbnail below to visit the profile):

Another spring orchid.

Here in central Florida, spring is already underway. While many of the deciduous trees are still bare, several species of orchids take advantage of this greater amount of light reaching the forest floor to do their business of growing and/or reproduction.
You've already met Wister's Coralroot in a previous post. Here is another of these spring orchids...Mesadenus lucayanus (formerly known as Spiranthes polyantha in Luer's work). It's common name is the Copper Ladies' Tresses (a number of members of the genus Spiranthes and related genera are called "Ladies' Tresses" or "Ladies' Traces" because they alternately reminded folks of the braid of a woman's hair or the laces of a bodice). It bears a basal rosette of light green leaves throughout the summer and right up to when it blooms in early spring. At this point the leaves are fading or already faded, the seedlings seeming to persist a little longer than mature, blooming-sized plants.

This particular species is hard to find when in flower, its slender copper-colored spikes bearing 5mm wide flowers blending in quite well with the leaf litter that blankets the forest floor. Here are some photos taken over the weekend of this diminutive and elusive species:









Many thanks to Paul Martin Brown and Larry Roberts for cluing me into this particular locality for this species.
Enjoy!

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