A rare species of orchid has
been discovered on a remote Scottish island for the first time.
Irish ladies' tresses, which resembles
plaited hair, only graces a few sites in the UK and Ireland, meaning the
discovery of around 160 plants on Oronsay is a significant find.
Experts at RSPB Scotland, which manages
a nature reserve there, believes the Spiranthes romanzoffiana orchids, which have a musky vanilla
fragrance, were dormant underground awaiting amenable flowering conditions.
According to the press, volunteer
Gill Watts, who found the orchids with her husband Richard, said: "We were
actually surveying for marsh fritillary butterflies when we spotted all these
white flowering spikes coming out of the ground.
"We thought at first they might be a more common orchid, but after checking with the RSPB reserve manager, we managed to positively identify them.”
"We thought at first they might be a more common orchid, but after checking with the RSPB reserve manager, we managed to positively identify them.”
Ladies tresses, or Spiranthes,
come in over 40 varieties, and are found in the Americas, Eurasia, and
Australia. The genus name Spiranthes is derived from the Greek speira
("coil") and anthos ("flower"), and was inspired by the
spirally arranged inflorescence.
Oronsay is a small tidal island
south of Colonsay in the Scottish Inner Hebrides with an area of just over two
square miles.
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