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Tag Archives: orchids

244/365 Autumn lady’s-tresses

01 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, autumn, flowers, nature, seasons, wildflowers

≈ 8 Comments

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#365DaysWild, Autumn Lady’s-tresses, British orchids, British wildflowers, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, orchids, Spiranthes spiralis

Happy (calendar) Autumn!

190901 autumn lady's-tresses (1)

Today’s plant couldn’t be more appropriate – these are Autumn lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis). True to their name, they usually appear when the weather turns more autumnal, and their twirling spiral form apparently reminded their original namer of the ringlets once popular in women’s hairstyles.

190901 autumn lady's-tresses (4)
190901 autumn lady's-tresses (5)

Though they like to grow in very short turf, Autumn lady’s-tresses are themselves quite small and, surrounded as these were by other wildflowers, especially the superficially similar Eyebright, they weren’t easy to spot.

190901 autumn lady's-tresses (2)
190901 autumn lady's-tresses (3)

Luckily for me, when I was having an early wander around Cosmeston this morning, I bumped into a friend of a friend, who is extremely knowledgeable about the local flora, and he very kindly showed me where these gorgeous little orchids were growing.

190901 autumn ladies tresses (6)

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185/365 Beauty and the Beast

04 Thursday Jul 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, British orchids, Epipactis palustris, Marsh helleborine, native orchids, orchids, orchids at brownfield site, Rhoose Point Nature Reserve

Like many brownfield sites, the former limestone quarries at Rhoose Point, the southernmost point in Wales, are now a nature-filled paradise, and yesterday one area was positively teeming with these beautiful Marsh helleborines (Epipactis palustris).

190704 marsh helleborines (1)

As their name implies, these orchids need water to flourish: the First Nature website says ‘This plant thrives in habitats which are usually submerged with water during the winter and maintain high levels of moisture during the summer. Dune slacks are often home to vast colonies, as are fens which are fed by alkaline springs running through limestone rocks – chalk being the other essential element to enable the Marsh Helleborine to flourish.’

190704 marsh helleborines (3)

I love what Richard Mabey has to say about orchids in Flora Botannica:

These days [their lightweight seed] often fetches up on artificially open habitats, low in nutrients and free of competition (quarries, for example), which replicate orchid-rich natural habitats such as sand dunes and cliff tops. It is this paradoxical, opportunistic quality of many orchids – the exquisite bloom transforming the spoil tip – that has become the basis for the true modern myth of the family, a botanical version of Beauty and the Beast.

190704 marsh helleborines (2)

The Marsh helleborines (and the many other species of orchid) that grow so well in the old Rhoose quarries are a stunning example of this transformation.

190704 marsh helleborines (4)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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