harriseli195's Favourites

Nodding ladies' tresses (Spiranthes cernua) blooming along the Blue Ridge Parkway in September. If you want to see them before they're flattened by the leaf lookers parking their cars on top of them, you have to go looking for them before the start of fall color season. I'm quite amazed how resilient they appear to be, coming back year after year despite the abuse.

For additional observations of this population of plants through the years, please see the similar observation set field.

Spiranthes cernua orchids blooming along the Blue Ridge Parkway from Rough Ridge to the Linn Cove Viaduct. They grow on the slope right down to the edge of the road, and unfortunately a lot of careless people who come for the fall colors park their cars right on top of them.

For additional observations of this population of plants through the years, please see the similar observation set field.

Guide to the Vascular Plants of Tennessee keys this as T. simile, differentiated from T. erectum var. album by the filaments being shorter than the anthers. I also understand this is an evolving definition and there is some debate on differentiating characteristics here.