Irish lady's tresses  (Spiranthes romanzoffiana)

The European range of this orchid covers western Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. There is also one site in south Devon. However, the chief home of the Irish ladies’ tresses is North America. It is possible that the British and Irish plants originate from refugia in the Hebrides and Ireland as the glaciers retreated about 8000 years ago, after the last Ice Age.

Irish lady’s tresses is a plant of wet marshy ground, wet meadows near water bodies and bogs. It prefers nutrient poor soil, especially that which is flooded at intervals, and often occurs on grazed meadows in open sedge-rich lawns.