Orchid Family – Orchidaceae
Actual flower size: 1/4 inch across
Plant Description: Hooded Ladies’ Tresses is a colony forming perennial. Each plant is slender, unbranched, and 6 to 18 inches tall with 2 to 5 narrow, 2 to 9 inches long basal leaves, and small bract-like leaves growing up the stem. The plant gets its name from the arrangement of the flowers along the stem – three rows of flowers spiral up the stem – looking something like braided hair.
Flower Description: The .5 inch, creamy white, broadly-tubular flowers are two-lipped. The upper sepal and two petals are fused together and curl up at the tips; the two lower sepals are not fused and the lower petal curls down.
Ecology: Ladies’ Tresses grow in marshes and bogs and along streams at low to middle elevations.
Note: The flowers of Ladies’ Tresses have a sweet fragrance.
Hooded Ladies’ Tresses Photo Gallery
Photo information: #5830, #5831, and #5834 were taken on September 7, 2002 on the, Mt Catherine Trail, I-90 exit 54, Hyak, WA; #2323, #2328, #2329, #2330 and #2364 were taken on July 31, 2008 in the Union Bay Natural Area, Seattle , WA.
Actual flower size: 1/4 inch across