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Spiranthes magnicamporum - (image 1 of 4)

Taxonomy

Family: Orchidaceae

Habitat

Open calcareous prairies and alvars.

Associates

Geum trilobum, Solidago ptarmicoides, Sporobolus heterolepis, Carex crawei.

 Distribution

Great Plains from ND to TX, east to northwest IN and irregularly to KY, MI, southwest Ontario, PA, and northern NY.

Morphology

Perennial to 40 cm. Leaves withering before anthesis, rarely persisting in wet years; lateral sepals somewhat spreading, often over the top of the flower; lip yellowish, elongate, margins undulate, basal callosities short and conical, usually less than 1 mm, as wide as long; seeds usually monoembryonic; 2n=30.

Notes

Flowers mid-September to early October in NY

Wetland indicator: NA

This species flowers later than many other Spiranthes spp. The flowers are usually fragrant. Primarily a Midwestern species but disjunct populations occur in southern Canada and northern NY on alvars. Sometimes occurs with S. incurva where their ranges overlap.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

Pace, M.C. and Cameron, K.M. The systematics of the Spiranthes cernua species complex (Orchidaceae): Untangling the Gordian Knot. Systematic Botany, 42(4):1-30.

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