Autumn lady's tresses

The flowers of this pretty and diminutive plant form a single tight spiral round the almost leafless flowering stem. Earlier in the year, all that can be seen of the Autumn Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) is a low rosette of leaves perfect for its favoured terrain of short calcareous grassland. This rosette dies away before being replaced with the flowering stem.

Autumn lady's tresses orchid is not particularly common and its numbers are thought to be reducing due to habitat loss. However, the plant is known to be fairly resilient and there are examples of the re-appearance of flowers once grazing or mowing has ceased