Family: orchids (Orchidaceae)
Flowering time: August–October
Size: 6–30 cm
Habitat: moderately dry to dry meadows and pastures
Spiral lady's-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) is a small plant. Its acutely ovate leaves are glabrous, 2 to 3 cm long, and form a pressed basal rosette around the flowering shoot. The erect, densely glandular-hairy stem is leafy with three to seven lanceolate leaves that clasp the stem. At the top of the shoot, 6 to 30 small white flowers form a spiral, coiled inflorescence. Except for the nectar lip, which has a light green interior, all the petals are white.
Spiral lady's-tresses grows on barren, but humus-rich, dry to fresh, moderately acidic soils. For its growth and development it requires enough light, therefore it thrives only on late-cut meadows and pastures with low disturbance. Except for the extreme northwest and northeast, it is scattered throughout Slovenia, but its populations are disappearing.
Due to the abandonment of late mowing of unmown meadows and extensive grazing on the one hand, and the intensification of agricultural practices on the other, the suitable habitat of the spiral lady's-tresses is disappearing, which endangers its existence not only in Slovenia, but also elsewhere. In Slovenia it is protected and listed as a vulnerable species (V) on the Red List of Endangered Species.
