Slender Ladies' Tresses, Green Lipped Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes lacera, var gracilis)

Family: Orchis

Slender Ladies'-Tresses is the easiest species of ladies'-tresses to identify, due to the distinctive green or yellowish-green spot on the center of the labellum (lower modified petal). It tolerates a range of dry to moist habitats including roadsides, and is pollinated by bumblebees. The Ojibwa used the roots of slender ladies'-tresses as an ingredient in a charm to bring luck to hunters.

It is one of the few native orchids that you will find in middle Tennessee.

Habitat: Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), grassland, meadows and fields, ridges or ledges, woodlands.

Photographic Location: Sycamore Ridge Ranch in Middle Tennessee.