Spiranthes romanzoffiana, commonly known as hooded lady's tresses[) or Irish lady's-tresses]
Description
Hooded lady's tresses is a perennial plant with a fleshy rootstock. It sends up shoots with lanceolate leaves and three rows of flowers arranged in spirally twisted rows. Each scented flower has the and petals united forming a lip of a tube. The labellum (or lower petal) of the flower is white with green veins.[Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ][
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The plant flowers in late summer. The flowers are pollinated by insects, and the tiny dust-like seed is distributed by the wind. However the plant can also reproduce vegetatively by means of root tubers which can grow new shoots while the old parts of the plant die. The orchid is associated with a Mycorrhiza which can provide it with essential nutrients.[
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Distribution and habitat
Hooded ladies' tresses was first described by the German botanist Adelbert von Chamisso. He named it in honour of his patron Nikolay Rumyantsev who had financed the scientific exploration to the Americas in 1815–1818 on which he found the orchid. It is common in North America, including Canada and the United States, but also grows in a few locations in Scotland and Ireland.[Hackney,P. Ed. 1992. Stewart & Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Third edition. Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast ] Since then it has been found in a number of other locations in Ireland and Northern Ireland, including the Lough Neagh basin and the Mourne Mountains and the hills of Antrim.
Ecology
Interactions between Irish Lady's Tresses and Its pollinating partners have only been studied in the West Irish populations.
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Correll, D.S., Native Orchids of North America, p. 220. 1978.
Further references
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Smith, J. E. August 1834. English Botany, Supplement 2786. Copied to New Edition (1840), Volume 7, Page 13, Plate 1212**. "Neottia gemmipara, Proliferous Lady's Tresses"
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Horsman, F. 2013. The discovery and subsequent history of Spiranthes romanzoffiana Chamisso (Orchidaceae) at Castletown Bearhaven in West Cork (H3) ''Irish Naturalists' Journal 32 19 - 25.
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