Spiranthes odorata(Nutt.) Lindl.

Marsh lady's tresses

WFO wfo-0000313339 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Spiranthes odorata, photographed by Laura Mae
fig. a Laura Mae, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-10-24 / obs. 165415815
Spiranthes odorata, photographed by John Kees
fig. b John Kees, CC0 1.0 / obs. 163903033
Spiranthes odorata, photographed by NC Wetlands
fig. c NC Wetlands, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 63823343
Spiranthes odorata, photographed by Drew Meyer
fig. d Drew Meyer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 169821587
Spiranthes odorata, photographed by Tom Field
fig. e Tom Field, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169041754
Spiranthes odorata, photographed by Abby Darrah
fig. f Abby Darrah, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 167463587
Spiranthes odorata, photographed by Abby Darrah
fig. g Abby Darrah, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 167418043
Spiranthes odorata, photographed by John Michael
fig. h John Michael, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 165091997

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 14 botanical countries

Regions where Spiranthes odorata is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia AlabamaArkansasFloridaGeorgiaKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMississippiNorth CarolinaOklahomaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVirginia
Native distribution of Spiranthes odorata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Mississippi MSI
North Carolina NCA
Oklahoma OKL
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 8 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Gyrostachys odorata (Nutt.) Kuntze
  • Ibidium odoratum (Nutt.) House
  • Neottia odorata Nutt.
  • Spiranthes cernua subsp. odorata (Nutt.) Kreutz & M.H.Schot
  • Spiranthes cernua var. odorata (Nutt.) Correll
  • Triorchis odoratus (Nutt.) Nieuwl.
  • Triorchos odoratus (Nutt.) Nieuwl.
  • Triorchos trilobus (Small) House

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.