Austral ladies'-tresses is a small orchid whose tiny pink flowers wind up the stem in a spiral. It grows wild across much of Asia, the southwest Pacific, and eastern Australia, but not in the United States.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A perennial ground orchid that dies back each year, with 3–10 narrow, dark green leaves about 3–7 in (8–18 cm) long.
- Flowers
- A spike 10–18 in (25–45 cm) tall carries 10–60 flowers, each only about 3/16 in (4–5 mm) long, arranged in a spiral. Colors range from deep pink to white, with a white, crinkle-edged .
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- bogs
- wet grasslands
- lawns and parks (Japan)
- Range
- Native from northern Iran and Georgia through the Himalayas and East Asia to Japan, and south to the southwest Pacific and eastern Australia. It does not grow wild in the US.
- Preferred conditions
- Usually found in boggy or swampy places and rainy grasslands. In Japan it pops up in everyday spots such as lawns, gardens, and parks.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- The flowers can pollinate themselves.
Growing it
- Care
- It does well in a well-drained, sandy potting mix and sometimes shows up as a weed in nursery pots. In Japan, though, individual plants are short-lived and hard to keep going for years.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Long included in Spiranthes sinensis, a name Korean and Japanese sources still often use for these plants. A 2019 revision broadened S. australis to take in the plants of mainland Japan.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- In Japan it is a familiar roadside and lawn wildflower, and it is first recorded in the Man'yōshū, a poetry collection compiled around 760 CE.
More species to explore
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