''Spiranthes triloba'', the panther ladies' tresses (previously sometimes green-lipped Spiranthes odorata) is a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

orchid

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Florida.

Description

''Spiranthes triloba'' plants have up to 5 basal leaves that can sometimes be wilted by the time they are flowering. The flowers are white and fragrant and arranged in a spiral around the stem. The lip of each flower is green for newly opened flowers and changes to yellow over time. Bloom time is during winter, from October to February. They look similar to

Spiranthes odorata ''Spiranthes odorata'', marsh lady's tresses or common lady's tresses, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family, native to the southeastern United States, from Texas eastwards and northwards to Delaware. It grows in moist, partially ...

and

Spiranthes cernua ''Spiranthes cernua'', commonly called nodding lady's tresses, or nodding ladies' tresses, is a species of orchid occurring from Maritime Canada to the eastern and southern United States. As the common name suggests ''cernua'' means "nodding", or ...

but the lip changing in color from green to yellow clearly distinguishes them from either. In fact locals in Florida long knew that there were ''Spiranthes odorata'' plants with this difference in appearance and called them ''green-lipped Spiranthes odorata''. The common name ''panther ladies' tresses'' is an homage to the

Florida panther The Florida panther is a North American cougar (''P. c. couguar'') population in South Florida. It lives in pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks and mixed freshwater swamp forests. Its range includes the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglade ...

which is also endemic to Florida and lives in the same habitat as these flowers.

Distribution and habitat

''Spiranthes triloba'' is endemic to Florida and prefers frequently burned prairies. This habitat is distinct from that of ''Spiranthes odorata'' which prefers flooded forests.

Taxonomy

The ''Spiranthes triloba'' plants were first described by

John Kunkel Small John Kunkel Small (January 31, 1869 – January 20, 1938) was an American botanist. He studied plants in the southeastern United States and wrote a book about the deterioration of habitats in Florida. Early life and education Small was born on ...

in 1898 as ''Gyrostachys triloba'' and transferred to ''Spiranthes triloba'' by

Karl Moritz Schumann Karl Moritz Schumann (17 June 1851 – 22 March 1904) was a German botanist. Schumann was born in Görlitz. He was curator of the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum, Botanisches Museum in Berlin-Dahlem from 1880 until 1894. ...

in the same year. However, for the next 118 years ''Spiranthes triloba'' was rarely considered a separate species and included as a variation of Spiranthes cernua or Spiranthes odorata (which itself was often considered a variation of Spiranthes cernua). M. C. Pace conducted a

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

and morphological study in 2016 and reinstantiated it as a separate species under Schumann's original name.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q63845298 triloba Orchids of the United States Plants described in 1898