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Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Mid-Atlantic bloom time: August - November
Appalachian Ladies’ Tresses was formerly treated as part of the Spiranthes cernua (nodding ladies'-tresses) complex, but after reevaluation it was designated as a separate species in 2017 (see "The Systematics of the Spiranthes cernua Species Complex (Orchidaceae): Untangling the Gordian Knot", Pace and Cameron, Systematic Botany, 42:4, December 2017, p. 640-669). It can be found in the mountainous Appalachians from North Carolina and Tennessee north.
Appalachian Ladies’ Tresses' flowers look very similar to Spiranthes incurva but the lateral white sepals are bent downward with their tips often lower than the tip of the lip. This downward arching sepals feature also gives them their scientific name "arcisepala", from the combining of Latin "arcus" (arching) and "sepalorum" (sepals).According to Zachary R. Bradford's article in Sempervirens, The Quarterly of the Virginia Native Plant Society, September 2022, Appalachian Ladies'-tresses' unique combination of characteristics are:
For a comparison of Ladies'-tresses based on Bradford's articles, see Spiranthes (Ladies'-tresses) Orchids ID help.
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24 September 2021
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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24 September 2021
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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24 September 2021
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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24 September 2021
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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24 September 2021
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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24 September 2021
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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24 September 2021
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV (with Bombus impatiens bumblebee) 
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22 September 2023
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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22 September 2023
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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22 September 2023
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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22 September 2023
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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22 September 2023
Dolly Sods Wilderness, Elkins, WV 
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