Ladies’ Tresses
Spiranthes Romanzoffianum, Cham. Orchis Family
Roots.—Fascicled tubers. Stems.—Stout; four to eighteen inches high. Leaves.—Oblong-lanceolate to linear. Spikes.—One to even ten inches long. Perianth.—Yellowish white; four lines long. Upper sepal and two petals coherent. Lip recurved, bearing a small protuberance on each side at base. Anther.—On the face of the short column. Ovary.—One-celled. Hab.—Through the mountains from Los Angeles northward.
The twisted spikes of these little orchids are interesting, because their ranks remain so clearly defined as they wind about the stem. The plants vary greatly in different seasons as to size, and are usually found in moist places.