Lady’s Tresses.Spiranthes Romanzoffiana.
Found during July and August beside meadow runnels, and on moist banks.
The round little flower-stem is twisted and smooth; about 8 or 10 inches high; and of a pale green color, pink at the foot.
The long narrow leaf, with its sharp-pointed tip, is not large, and contracts to a mere sheath near the flower; its texture is thick, and surface smooth; it clasps the stem. The arrangement is alternate, and the color is a dull, but pale, green.
The small flower is indeterminate in shape, with an oblong down-bent lip, all the other parts being erect and holding their tips together; the throat is round and hollow; the texture is waxen and the color white, or sometimes tinged with faint dull yellow. The flowers, set down in the hold of enfolding, green sheath-like bracts whose pointed tips curve over the blossoms, are arranged in rows to form a close spike.
The twisting of the flower-stem causes the ranks of blossoms to appear to be placed in a spiral arrangement. The flowers have a cloying perfume.