IOSPE PHOTOS

Spiranthes australis ( R.Br. ) Lindl. 1824

Photo courtesy of Cathy Powers and her AUSTRALIAN TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS OTHER FLORA & FAUNA BANJORAH Website

Drawing by Pantling

Common Name The Southern Spiranthes - Austral Ladies Tresses Orchid - The Pink Spiral Orchid

Flower Size .2" [.5 cm]

Found in Afghanistan, Altay, Amur, Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Buryatiya, Chatham Is., China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, East European Russia, East Himalaya, Hainan, India, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Irkutsk, Japan, Jawa, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Manchuria, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Niue, Pakistan, Philippines, Primorye, Qinghai, Queensland, Sakhalin, Samoa, Solomon Is., South Australia, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Tasmania, Thailand, Tonga, Transcaucasus, Tuva, Vanuatu, Victoria, Vietnam, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Xinjiang and Tibet provinces of china, and Yakutiya Russia occuring in moist to wet soils in swamps, marshes, near streams and in sub-alpine grasslands at elevations of 20 to 450 meters as a small to medium sized sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with 3 to 5, obliquely erect, narrowly lanceolate, dark green, somewhat shiny leaves held in a basal rosette that blooms in the spring and summer on an erect, peduncle 6 to 18" [15 to 45 cm] long, provided with a few distant sheathing bracts, rachisa 3 to 6" [7.5 to 15 cm] long, 10 to 60 flowered inflorescence with ovate, longer than the sessile ovary floral bracts and carrying spirally arranged, fragrant flowers.

Many references cite this species as a synonym of S sinensis but I have left them separate for now.

Synonyms Calanthe australis (R.Br.) Aiton ex Loudon 1850; Gyrostachys australis (R. Br.) Blume 1859; Gyrostachys australis var. amoena (M.Bieb.) Blume 1859; Gyrostachys congesta (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Gyrostachys novifuburgensis Kuntze 1891; Gyrostachys stylites (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Gyrostachys wightiana Kuntze 1891; Ibidium viridiflorum (Makino) Makino 1929; Monustes australis (R. Br.) Raf. 1836; Neottia amoena M.Bieb. 1819; *Neottia australis R Br. 1810; Neottia crispata Blume 1825; Neottia parviflora Sm. 1813; Ophrys spiralis Georgi 1775; Spiranthes amoena (M.Bieb.) Spreng. 1826; Spiranthes angustilabris J.J.Sm. 1913; Spiranthes australis var. tasmaniensis Schltr. 1920; Spiranthes australis var. viridiflora Makino 1926; Spiranthes congesta Lindl. 1824; Spiranthes crispata Zoll. & Moritzi 1846; Spiranthes elytra D.L.Jones & R.J.Bates 2015; Spiranthes longispicata A.Rich. 1841; Spiranthes novae-zelandiae Hook.f. 1852; Spiranthes parviflora (Sm.) Lindl 1824; Spiranthes sinensis subsp. australis (R.Br.) Kitam. 1964; Spiranthes sinensis var. australis (R.Br.) H.Hara & S.Kitam. 1985 Spiranthes sinensis var. amoena (M.Bieb.) H.Hara 1969; Spiranthes stylites Lindl. 1857; Spiranthes viridiflora (Makino) Makino 1927; Spiranthes wightiana Lindl. 1832

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

Reich 2: 232 Georgi 1775 as Ophrys spiralis nom. illeg.

Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland.: 319 R Br 1810 as Neottia australis

Cycl. 24: n.° 10 Sm. 1813 as Neottia parviflora

Fl. Taur.-Caucas. 3: 606 M Bieb. 1819 as Neottia amoena

* Bot. Reg. 10: t. 823 Lindley 1824

Bot. Reg. 10: t. 823 Lindley 1824 as S congesta

Bot. Reg. 10: t. 823 Lindley 1824 as S parviflora

Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind.: 406 Bl. 1825 as Neottia crispata

Syst. Veg., ed. 16. 3: 708 Spreng. 1826 as S amoena

Numer. List: n.° 7378 Lindley 1832 as S wightiana nom. nud.

Fl. Tellur. 2: 87 Raf. 1837 as Monustes australis