Plant of the Week
Spiranthes diluvialis range map. USDA PLANTS Database.
Ute Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis) close-up view.
Ute Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis). Photo Charmaine Delmatier.
Ute Lady's Tresses habitat. Photo Charmaine Delmatier.
Ute Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis)
By Charmaine Delmatier, 2016
Ute lady’s tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis) (also, Ute ladies'-tresses) is a newly described terrestrial monocot in the orchid family, Orchidaceae, and occurs in the western United States. In 1984, Dr. C. J. Sheviak described this new endemic orchid found in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) there are 59,300 species of monocots worldwide, and the largest family in this group by number of species are the orchids with more than 20,000 species. Within the orchids, the genus, Spiranthes, includes a modest 25 species, and is distributed across the temperate regions of North and South America, Eurasia, and Australia.
Unlike its closest relative, hooded lady’s tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana), which is easily identified by its spirally tightly-bound flowering stalk, a combination of characteristics is involved to adequately identify Ute lady’s tresses. Some of those include the length and position of the laterally placed sepals. They are broadly spread and often loosely incurved, and often raised above the rest of the flower. The sepals are usually appressed and can often resemble the shape of horned-like appendages. The flower length can range between 7.5 to 15 millimeters. The lip diverges from the sepals and petals, and is somewhat constricted in the middle. It has distinct veins, sometimes a few or sometimes many. The entire flower is often gaping outward from where it is attached. The entire plant varies in height, ranging from 7 to 24 inches. The basal linear leaves are persistent throughout the life of the plant. All the above floral characteristics combine to give us a broad picture for this beautiful and delicate white orchid in the wild.
The spirally-flowered terminal spike sometimes resembles neatly braided hair, hence the common name “lady’s tresses”. The genus, Spiranthes, derives its name from the Greek derivative ‘spiera’ which means coil or spiral, and from the Greek derivative ‘anthos’ meaning flower. Looking back in history to around 1830, imagine a well-known Russian scientist roaming the Alaskan countryside and you will see Count Romanoff (Nikolai Rumantzev), a citizen from Kotzebue, and the man from whom the species received its name.
The habitat for Ute lady’s tresses varies, but is usually associated with moist environments including alkaline wetlands, moist meadows, floodplains, flooded river terraces, subirrigated or spring-fed abandoned stream channels and valleys, lakeshores, irrigation canals, berms, levees, or irrigated meadows. Elevations range from 720 to 1,830 feet (220 to 558 meters) in Washington to 7,000 feet (2,134 meters) in northern Utah.
Orchids in general have become important medicinal and therapeutic sources for various ailments such as tuberculosis, paralysis, stomach disorders, chest pain, arthritis, syphilis, jaundice, cholera, acidity, eczema, boils, and inflammations. The genus Spiranthes also has a reputation for treating venereal disease.