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Ute lady's tresses

Spiranthes diluvialis

Also called Ute Ladies' Tresses, Diluvim Ladies’ Tresses, Flood Ladies Tresses, Intermountain Ladies Tresses, Plateau Lady’s Tresses, Ute Lady’s Tresses, Diluvial Ladies' Tresses

Ute lady's tresses
Photo: USFWS Endangered Species on flickr, credit Bekee Hotze/USFWS, CC BY 2.0
Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Native range
NW. U.S.A. to Nebraska
Climate
temperate

About

Spiranthes diluvialis is a rare species of orchid known as Ute lady's tresses (also, Ute ladies'-tresses). The species name diluvialis means "of the flood". It is native to the western United States, where there are scattered, mostly small occurrences in the states of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Two occurrences were discovered in southern British Columbia in 2006. The plant faces a number of threats to its existence. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States but was proposed for delisting in 2025.

Where it grows

This plant grows in moist wetland habitat, including bogs and riparian areas such as riverbanks, floodplains, lakeshores, riverside woodlands and forest, desert springs, and meadows, and human-made habitat such as ditches, reservoirs, and irrigated agricultural settings. In 2005 there were about 52 occurrences. The population size is difficult to count or estimate because the plant spends most of its time in a vegetative or dormant state, in which there are few or no aboveground plant parts and these may be hidden in dense surrounding vegetation or hard to identify. Some plants may be dormant underground for years at a time. What appear on paper to be larger populations are actually areas that have been more often and intensely surveyed.

Other Spiranthes plants

Summer lady's-tresses · Appalachian ladies' tresses · Spiranthes australis · Atlantic Ladies' Tresses · Texas lady's tresses · Case's lady's tresses · Nodding lady's tresses · Reclusive lady's tresses · Eaton's lady's tresses · Canelo lady's tresses · Fire Ladies' Tresses · Sphinx ladies' tresses

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Spiranthes diluvialis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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