north american native orchid journal - at The Culture Sheet
north american native orchid journal - at The Culture Sheet
north american native orchid journal - at The Culture Sheet
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Pelch<strong>at</strong>: SPIRANTHES PARKSII CORRELL – NAVASOTA LADIES’-TRESSES<br />
SPIRANTHES PARKSII CORRELL –<br />
NAVASOTA LADIES’-TRESSES<br />
Reprinted in a slightly different form<strong>at</strong> from North American N<strong>at</strong>ive Orchid<br />
Journal 6(4): 268-279. 2000<br />
Cliff Pelch<strong>at</strong><br />
Spiranthes parksii, the Navasota ladies’-tresses, is the only<br />
endemic <strong>orchid</strong> th<strong>at</strong> Texas can claim and it has had an elusive<br />
history since its discovery in 1945, and was first described by<br />
Donovan Stewart Correll, (Correll 1947). In his 1950 book,<br />
N<strong>at</strong>ive Orchids of North America North of Mexico, Correll st<strong>at</strong>es<br />
th<strong>at</strong> it was discovered in Texas in 1945 and th<strong>at</strong> it had no close<br />
allies in North American <strong>orchid</strong> flora; "This species has no close allies<br />
in our flora. Its affinity seems to be with several Mexican and Central<br />
American species. It apparently occurs in moist habit<strong>at</strong>, and blooms in<br />
October." (Correll 1950) <strong>The</strong> specimens Correll used to describe<br />
the Navasota ladies’-tresses were collected by Haliburton<br />
Braley Parks along the Navasota River (Democr<strong>at</strong>ic Bridge) in<br />
Brazos County, (Correll 1947). For the next 30 years H. B. Parks<br />
was the only person to have seen a live specimen of this plant.<br />
Many of the herbarium specimens deposited by H. B. Parks<br />
contain short non-specific descriptions for loc<strong>at</strong>ion (such as<br />
“Democr<strong>at</strong>ic Bridge”), which certainly contributed to the<br />
difficulty of loc<strong>at</strong>ing existing popul<strong>at</strong>ions of S. parksii. Carlyle<br />
Luer along with Correll searched for the plants on 2 different<br />
occasions without finding them leading him to specul<strong>at</strong>e on their<br />
origin; "<strong>The</strong> writer has thoroughly searched the type locality, along the<br />
Navasota River in eastern Texas, in two different years, once with Dr.<br />
Correll, but without success. Within a radius of a few miles, three familiar<br />
species of Spiranthes were discovered in flower: S. cernua, S. ovalis, and the<br />
robust Texan S. lacera var. gracilis . . .It is considered unlikely th<strong>at</strong> a<br />
southern relict might survive in the western part of the Coastal Plain and the<br />
Eastern Woodland where no other localized endemic species of <strong>orchid</strong> is<br />
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