EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Hooded Ladies' Tresses

Hooded Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana), Family Orchidaceae
Bonanza Creek, Alaska, USA

Explanation:  This delicate bundle of flowers is a beautiful orchid widely distributed in northern and western North America.  This is Hooded Ladies' Tresses, photographed here in Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest in central Alaska.  

In Alaska and elsewhere, this plant is an obligate indicator of a healthy wetland environment.

Some sources note that the species is also present in England, Scotland, and Ireland, quite removed from its wide North American distribution.  

The flowering stalk is called a spike in botanical terms, with unstalked flowers arranged along a long unbranched stem.  

This plant is pollinated by quite a few species of bees, but some native Bombus bees have been on a steep decline for some time now.  As go the pollinators, so will go the pollinated.