File:Autumn Lady's-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) - geograph.org.uk - 936736.jpg

English: Autumn Lady's-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis). This is the latest flowering British orchid (as suggested by its name). It is relatively short (this example was about 10 cm tall, although they can grow to around twice this height) and typically grows in short calcareous grassland, such as chalk downland (see 936746 for a picture within a wider context).

Most of the year is spent as a rosette of leaves close to the ground, which withers before the flower spike is produced in late summer. (For evidence of the relatively quick emergence of the flowering spike in the growth cycle, see 936768). As a result, it can cope with trampling, grazing and mowing - it has not infrequently been recorded from garden lawns, with a gap in mowing in August, either because of dry weather or the owners' absence on holiday, being sufficient to allow the flowering spike to emerge. This particular example was on the lower slopes of the south face of Box Hill, but I have regularly found examples on the upper slopes, which on a sunny summer weekend can seem as crowded as any south coast beach - yet they survive (and even appear to relish!) the resulting trampling.

The derivation of the latin name (meaning "spiral coiled flower") is self evident: the flowers form a spiral round the stem. The English name presumably reflects the suggestion of long hair draped round a lady's body!