Hooded Ladies'-tresses

In early August (that's how far behind I am with posting pictures) we made one of our many trips across the North Cascades to the Spokane area. We left early in the morning and as dawn was breaking made our first stop in North Cascades National Park near Diablo Lake Overlook to photographed the Ladies'-tresses there. To our disappointment they were nearly finished, the result of a hot dry summer. Further up the mountains, however, near Rainy Pass, we found more of them in prime condition and stopped to take photos before continuing on our way to eastern Washington. The story of our trip and photos can be found at the link below.

The Hooded Ladies'-tresses, Spiranthes romanzoffiana, in one of three species in that genus to be found in the state of Washington, this one very common and the other two very rare. It is a small plant, often under six inches tall and seldom more than a foot tall and flower that vary from off-white to cream. A closer look at the flowers is given below in an older picture. It is one of the last of our native orchids to bloom and loves wet sunny meadows. It gets the name "Ladies'tresses from the braided appearance of the flower spikes.